§ "Where, prior to the commencement of this Act, a tenant holding under a present tenancy was evicted from his holding, and such tenant or his personal representative was afterwards reinstated in the possession of the holding, the tenancy created on such reinstatement shall he deemed to he a present tenancy unless the contract of tenancy expressly provides otherwise."
§ This clause, He said, recognised as the starting-point from which the tenancy should begin the date given in the Act of 1881, and did not propose to alter that date. There were an enormous number of these eases, the number having been greatly multiplied under 868 Section seven of the Act of 1887. Some of the; tenants who were served with eviction notices and reinstated were, he had no doubt, reinstated in express terms as under a present tenancy; but these transactions were managed in an informal way. All that the clause proposed to do was to give legal sanction to what was unquestionably the intention of the parties in all these cases.
§ Clause read a First time.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURsaid he should entirely agree with the hon. Member if he believed that, where the contract did not expressly so provide, it was the intention of the parties in every case that the tenant should be reinstated as under a present tenancy. But he could not believe that that was always the case, or that that could always be taken to be the intention of the parties. Under the Bill, it would be possible for the landlord and tenant to agree to make the present tenancy the regular course. He thought, therefore, it would be unreasonable to accept the Amendment.
§ Question, "That the Clause be read a second time," put, and negatived.
§ MR. MAURICE HEALY moved the following new clause, which was read a First time:—