Lairds of Glenlyon

THE LAIRDS OF GLENLYON. 307
of the country are entitled to have a business-like connec-
tion with their proprietors. On the other hand, the land-
lords may fairly claim to have their rights considered from
a business point of view. You have alluded to my course
of action since Garth came into my hands, and I am grate-
ful to you for the expression of your confidence that I will
act justly to my new tenantry. Unfortunately, the relations
between landlord and tenant in Scotland, as in England
and Ireland, have been such as to call for the intervention
of Parliament. I have no intention to introduce politics,
but in view of your position as tenant farmers, and as you
have referred to past legislation, I may remark that we
have yet to dispose of some questions connected with land
tenure in consequence of the changed condition of agricul-
tural affairs. It is quite true, as has been said, that the
alteration of the Law of Entail has enabled the late
proprieter to dispose of Glenlyon as he desired to do.
For my part, I am now experiencing the effects of the
Agricultural Holdings Act, by the necessary and proper
settlement of the compensation for unexhausted improve-
ments claimed by the outgoing tenant of the Home
Farm. The abolition of Hypothec takes away from me
and from other landlords — and I am glad of it — any
chance of dealing in that direction harshly as a pro-
prietor ; and in a district where it is easy to raise a
crop of hares and rabbits, I daresay there is no small
satisfaction among you that you now enjoy the advantages
of the Ground Game Act for which I voted in Parlia-
ment. You may remember that on the day of the
address being presented to me by the tenants of Garth,
at the time I purchased that property, the tenants were