THE Scottish Office land reform policy group will not be short of suggestions when it sits down to consider the responses to its consultation paper.

More than 300 individuals and organisations have made submissions which will now be sifted and distilled before the preparation of a second consultation document, due out in the late summer.

Agriculture Minister Lord Sewel, who is acting as chairman of the group, has said a great deal of thought, interest and practical experience are evident in the comments. As might be expected there is also a clear indication of battle lines being drawn between landlords and tenants.

Some on either side, who feel victimised by the present system, have taken the opportunity in their submissions to speak powerfully from their own experience.

It is hard not to feel sympathy for the Skye farmer who on his parents' death found himself under the control of 10 absentee landlords - all relations. He is vexed that he had no opportunity to buy either the house in which he lives or the 2500 acres of land on which he has worked all his life.

''The Labour Party promised to do away with multiple landlords and all they stand for - which is power when they come on their occasional visits,'' he says.

A wider perspective is adopted by Dr Jean Balfour, former chairman of the Countryside Commission for Scotland and a landowner in Fife and Sutherland. She feels it may be better to have a Scot rather than a non-Scot as a landowner - not because the management is always better but because it may be more accountable.

Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, a QC who specialises in agricultural law, acknowledges the difficulties which may be encountered when estates are owned by foreign companies. He says: ''It may be that a solution can be found not in banning foreign ownership but in providing that any foreign company must nominate a UK resident who has authority to deal with all aspects of estate management.''

Sir Crispin emerges as a critic of the Crown Estates Commission whose remit, he suggests, should be changed to include a commitment to enhance and protect the environment and to have regard to legitimate recreational interests.

In the leasing of the seabed for farming the commissioners have had scant regard for the interests of yachtsmen in regard to anchorages, he says. ''Many important and beautiful anchorages are now restricted in their use.''

It is in the Highlands and Islands that the tensions between landlord and tenant are most obvious. One respondent from Islay - a tenant farmer for 30 years - argues for the ''right to buy'' and deplores the actions of absentee landlords who ''do nothing for the estate and demand, with threats, increases in rent which have no bearing on farm incomes''.

He accuses the estate owners of being most interested in providing shooting to entertain their friends for a few weeks a year. ''On Islay we have high unemployment and a rapidly declining population. It matters very much to all of us, especially the younger generation, who owns Scotland.''

A defence of sporting interests is made by Malcolm Younger, factor of the Islay Estates Company who argues that sport has often been the main motivation of those who purchase land. ''Financial returns are typically small, or even negative. Estate owners are often in the business of underwriting employment of gamekeepers and other businesses, including hotels and those supplying equipment or gamebirds.''

The Island of Arran would appear to be a hotbed of disputes between estate owners and the public in general. DJ Furze of Kilmory complains that much of the land is controlled by two private estates and the Forestry Commission. ''There is a stultifying effect when two or three individuals have so much authority to control people's lives.''

Local laird Charles Fforde, writing from the Arran Estate office, claims the Government's paper is not a ''pure'' consultation document. ''It is clear the land reform policy group has already set its sights on legislation to change the status quo.''

There would appear to be little point, he suggests, in expecting any weight to be given to the fact that the present system has helped to create employment, rural housing and a landscape which has become a world-renowned tourist attraction. The document, to his ears, has a vindictive ring about it.

''Given the right guidelines, advice assistance and encouragement it is unlikely that private owners will have any desire or need to act in an anti-social or anti-community manner. This is not the time for legislation.''

A quick look through the submissions tends not to support that view. There are certainly wrongs that need to be righted. A relaxation of the feudal system, which seems strangely out of kilter with the modern age, would be a start.

There would also be merit in some provision for limited duration tenancies, as proposed by Sir Crispin Agnew in his submission. Happily there are now signs of progress between the Scottish Landowners' Federation and the National Farmers' Union of Scotland on that front.