Il8 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND - MISCELLANEOUS 



,\^ the J^oard are unable to give issistance towards the stocking of 

 holdings, the possession of a certain amount of capital either in money or 

 in stock is one of the necessary qualifications for suitable applicants. Of 

 the whole number of 3,370 applicants, more than 40(j stated their capital 

 as over £200, more than 500 as between £100 and £200, and about 750 

 as between £50 and £100. 



As soon as the pre.iminar} examination of the applications was com- 

 pleted, the vSub-Commissioneis for Small Holdings began to make local 

 inquiries, and by the end of the year they had interviewed over 2,500 

 applicants. Their investigations showed that a large proportion of these 

 were rnen of good character and adequate experience in the working of 

 land and the management of stock. At the same time inquiries were carried 

 out with a view to discovering land available for new holdings. The Board 

 are directed preferably to select land falling out of lease, where the present 

 tenant does not wish to renew Ids occupancy, and this course would naturallj'' 

 be followed in any case, in order to avoid disturbance of present tenants, 

 and to relieve the Board of the necessity of paying compensation on this 

 ground. The Board will also, so far as practicable, preferably arrange for the 

 formation of small holdings from the large area of land in Scotland which 

 was formerl}'^ cultivated, but which for various reasons has been allowed 

 during the past century to fall back into the condition of permanent pasture. 

 Apart from the limitations set by the Act to the choice of land, there was 

 at first a certain unwillingness on the part of landowners to respond to the 

 Board's overtures regarding land on their estates which might be available 

 for holdings. This has now in large measure disappeared as the result 

 of growing familiarity with the procedure provided by the Act. Most of 

 the schemes initiated by the Boaid will, it is anticiijated, go before the Land 

 Court for the issue of a Compulsory Order. This procedure will, however, 

 be adopted in man}^ cases not because the landowner is hostile to the whole 

 proposal, but because agreement has not been reached in details or because 

 it is desired that the sanction of the Court should be given to the scheme as 

 arranged . 



By 31st. December, i()i2, the Commissioner for Small Holdings had 

 opened negotiations with landowners in regard to schemes of land settle- 

 ment affecting the applications of about 1,000 persons. Some of these 

 schemes were abandoned as impracticable for one reason or another ; in 

 other cases the scheme was carried through b}' voluntary agreement ; in 

 others again it was arranged with the landowners that the scheme should 

 be submitted to the Land Court, and in a considerable number of cases the 

 Board decided on the same course because of the opposition of the landowner 

 to the scheme as a whole. Altogether at the end of the year the Beard 

 had decided to make application to the Court for Compulsory Orders for 

 the constitution of new holdings for 298 persons and for the enlargement 

 of the holdings of I7() persons, chiefly in the crofting counties. There were 

 also a large number of schemes spread all over Scotland in regard to which 

 negotiations were in progress. The number of practicable proposals before 



