§ "DISSENTIENT:
§ "1. Because no man in this country occupies and cultivates the land of another, except by his own free will and upon terms which he has voluntarily accepted.
§ "2. Because it is a sound principle in Legislation that men should be permitted to contract freely with one another in the management of their affairs.
§ "3. Because no exceptional reason exists in the case of landlords and tenants for departing from the above sound principle; inasmuch as tenants are for the most part grown up men, as well or better capable than most other classes of securing their own interest by bargain; and, moreover, under existing circumstances, able almost to dictate their own terms. Their case is thus distinguished from those in which the Legislature has hitherto interfered with free contract for the protection of women, children, and lunatics, or of life, limb, or health.
§ "4. Because there is no distinction in principle between the business of cultivating land and that of any other great industry—the community in all instances alike is interested in a successful result; but experience has shown that success is most surely brought about by the unfettered enterprise of individuals under the steady stimulus of private gain.
§ "5. Because between two persons who have entered into a contract as landlord and tenant for the occupation of land, there is no natural, or other, right whatever in respect of such occupation, except that which is expressed or implied by the contract itself; and if a tenant who has made improvements beyond those provided for therein is entitled to compensation, the landlord who has done the same thing is equally entitled to an increase of rent, in defiance, in both instances, of the bargain they have mutually made.
§ "6. Because the Bill will give direct legislative encouragement to dishonesty, even when 696 premeditated, since it will enable a man to obtain advantages by signing an agreement, and after having enjoyed them to repudiate it to the detriment of the other party.
§ "7. Because, while the relations of landlord and tenant have hitherto been generally maintained on a friendly footing, those between capital and labour are with difficulty adjusted, and are the cause of ceaseless disputes; and if the principle of free contract is recklessly abandoned in the one case, it will be found difficult to maintain it in the other, when a claim is urged that the rate of wages should be settled by law.
§ "8. Because the wanton abandonment of the above sound principle to favour one class cannot fail to induce other classes to demand similar Legislative interference in their behalf, and will tend to generate Political combinations for the attainment of private ends, in place of the common weal.
§ "9. Because legislation of this kind lies outside the proper province of Parliament, which cannot by any expenditure of time and trouble satisfactorily adjust the varied and constantly varying detailed requirements of special industries.
§ "10. Because, finally, legislation of this description is not new, but was freely tried in the days of the Plantagenet Kings, and failed; while in modern times it has been, until quite recently, condemned alike by Political economists and statesmen of all Parties.
§ "PENZANCE.
§ "BRAMWELL.
§ "REDESDALE.
§ "FORTESCUE.
§ "WEMYSS."