78 ITALIAN COLONIES - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



On the other hand the concessional has the right to exemption from 

 taxes and remission of rent in determined cases, and^ other things being 

 equal, should have a preference if new concessions are on any pretext 

 eventually made by the State. 



(2) For concessions of small lots : 



These lots have an area of from three to thirty hectares and exception- 

 ally of fifty hectares. They are reserved exclusively to small agricultur- 

 ists who dispose of the capital necessary to bringing them under cultiva- 

 tion. They are ceded for ninety-nine 3'ears, with a right of purchase to the 

 concessionary who has scrupulously fulfilled the stipulations of the con- 

 tract at the end of twenty-five years, or in exceptional cases at the end of 

 fifteen years, the terms to be counted from the da}^ on which possession 

 was taken. 



Even in the case of the concession of small lots the concessionary is 

 bound to carry out determined works and plantations, and has the right 

 to special exemptions and remissions of rent. 



It is evident that it is the chief aim of these concessions of small lots, 

 to which the Agrarian Office devotes the greatest care, to favour and en- 

 courage the agricultiire ou a small scale which has given excellent results 

 in certain conditions, especially when colonization has been in its first 

 stages. 



In the beginning of 1915 concessions were made, as appears from the 

 Bollettino di Informazioni of the Ministry of the Colonies (i), of four large 

 lots of land having a total area of 986.50 hectares and thirty-nine small 

 lots, ceded to small agriculturists, having a total area of 548.26 hectares. 



But, as has been said already, the colonization of Libya is still only 

 beginning. 



(i) 3rd j'ear, no. i, Jauuarj^ 1915- Rome, Bertero, 1915. 



