XXX APPENDIX.

ofthe money paid by the tenants for the conversion of their tenures. With a cash account to this extent at the dis- posal of the Government, the competition of proprietors for the money would determine the value of lands. There would be no necessity for coercion. The estates would be bought at prices which would enable the Government to resell them low, and to remit all the arrears as had been done in respect of the Selkirk and Worrell Estates. If the prices paid for those properties formed any criterion, then 5 for about 2s 6d. sterling per acre 800,000 acres could be relieved from the leasehold tenure. Adding what was already free. there would remain but about 160,000 acres which could easily be purchased as the proceeds of the Selkirk and \Vorrell Estates came in. If the prices de- manded were higher the operations might take a longer time; but far and above all other solutions of the diffi- Gully this mode was certainly to be preferred.

This was the first solution of existing difficulties re- commended by the Commissioners. and it was in their opinion, far above and beyond all others. the best. But should the Imperial Government decline to guaranteea Loan, or the Provincial Government refuse to tender the securities, then other remedies were provided. There were two. It was in evidence before the Commissioners that some leasehold properties are selling at high prices, and- that for others the landlords had refused from the tenants 205. sterling an acre. It was clear that, however valuable these properties might be, the landlord‘s interest in them was but 20 years‘ purchase. The Commissioners then award, that when any tenant shall tender to his landlord 20 years purchase, or £100, the landlord shall be bound to give him a deed, and if the tenant pays in cash, a de- duction of 10 per cent. Under this clause tenants can at once, and without delay, convert their farms and become freeholders. If the tenant is not prepared to pay the money down, he may pay by instalments of £10 a year for ten years, the rent diminishing as the instalments are paid.

But many farms are not worth 20 yeatrs' purchase, and many he worth very little. To provide for all such cases the Commissioners award, that any tenant who wants to purchase may tender to his landlord what he conceives to be the value of his farm, say £30 or £40. If the land lord accepts there is an end of the matter. If he declines he must appoint an arbitrator, the tenant appoints ano- ther, and if these two cannot agree they appoint a third. These three men fix the price to be paid for the farm. If it exceeds the tenant’s offer the tenant pays the expense of the arbitration. If it does not, the expenses are to be