NOTICES RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 

 IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



AUSTRIA. 



I. WITTSCHIEBEN (Dr. Otto): DieBauernlegmigeninSteierniark;i903-i9i2. — Die Zwangs- 

 versteigenmgen land- und forst\\irtsdiaftlicher Grundstiicke in Stciermark 1903-1912. 

 {The Transformation of Peasants' Holdings in Styria 1903-1912. The Sales by Auction of 

 Agricultural and Forest Land in Styria), prepared by Dr. Otto Wittschieben, director of 

 the Provincial Office of Statistics at this office. — Graz, Ivcnsehner and I<ubensky, 191 6. 



This publication is divided into two parts, of which the first is concerned 

 with the formation of large properties by aggregating rural holdings, and the 

 second with the forced auction of agricultural and forest holdings in Styria 

 between 1903-1912. 



The w^ord Bauernlegungen which is included in the title of the first part, 

 needs explanation. It is used in its wide sense to signify the passage of a 

 holding hitherto entirely cultivated bj'' peasants into the tenure of persons 

 of a different social position who will cultivate it on new principles and for 

 a new object. In its restricted sense this word is applied to the sale of rural 

 holdings for the purpose of forming or extending hunting reserves and fo- 

 rest zones. 



The author examines the losses occasioned to these holdings by such 

 changes of their ownership, method of cultivation and purpose ; and the 

 interest which the State has in their continued tenure by a rural population 

 as numerous as possible. He enumerates the legislative measures anterior 

 and posterior to the outbreak of war which aim at preventing the aggra- 

 vation of this evil. Of such legislative measures the most important _^are : 

 the imperial ordinance of 9 August 1915 (Bulletin of the Laws of the Empire, 

 No. 234). which regulates the alienation of rural and forest property ; the 

 ordinance of 11 August 1915 (ibid. no. 235) which contains rules for applying 

 the preceding ordinance ; and the ordinance of the Ministry of Justice of 

 the .same date (ibid. 236) which enumerates the communes in which the 

 said oidinance is not applicable. 



2. STRAKORCH (Dr. Siegfried H. C.) : Die Grundlagen der Agrarwirtschaft in Oesterreich. 

 Eine Handels- und Produktionspolitische Untersuchung {The Foundations of Agrarian 

 Economy in'Austria. A Study of the Policy of Trade and Production). 440 pp. Vicnm, 

 Tempsky, 191 6. 



The first part of this book is devoted to the rural economy of the 

 various districts of Austria, examined from points of view as divergent as that 



