PROPOSAIvS FOR I, AND REFORM II 5 



The tied cottage is often let at a reduced rent, so that the labourer is 

 reaUy receiving part of his earnings in kind. Should he elect to go into 

 a cottage belonging to another person than his employer, he would lose 

 a portion of his earnings. Nevertheless, it is stated that, in order to be 

 more independent, labourers often prefer to pay a higher rent for a free 

 cottage. It is alleged that farmers sometimes use the power which 

 the tied cottage system gives them to insist upon the labourer's wife and 

 children working for him instead of for others. Yet another evil of the 

 system is that old men who are past work are turned out of their homes 

 and are often unable to find another in their native village. 



Even where the labourer Hves in a cottage let direct by the landown- 

 er, the shortage of cottages is said to prejudice seriously his liberty. The 

 Committee, therefore, recommend that labourers' cottages should be held 

 subject to a minimum notice of six months and that it should be made il- 

 legal to let cottages to a farmer for him to sub-let to his labourers. 



(e) The Labourer's Access to the Land. 



With a view to giving to the labourer a better prospect of rising to a 

 higher position in Ufe, the Committee urge that greater facilities should be 

 given for the acquisition of cottage gardens, allotments, and small holdings. 

 Evidence is produced of the desire for land on the part of the labourers and 

 various recommendations are made for supplying it more rapidh^ than is 

 being done under the existing Small Holdings and Allotments Acts. It is 

 suggested, amongst other recommendations, that in new housing schemes 

 where public money is lent, it should be insisted that not more than 

 four cottages should be erected to the acre ; that parish councils should 

 have the right to obtain compulsory orders for the purchase of land at 

 prices to be fixed by a special tribunal, and that county councils should 

 have similar powers in regard to land for small holdings ; that the 

 provision of small holdings by county councils should be stimulated by 

 giving to the central authorities the power to withhold grants-in-aid in 

 cases where the Acts are not energetically administered, and that the Board 

 of Agriculture should have extended power of acting in default. 



(d) Under -cultivation. 



The extension of the number of small holdings is advocated on other 

 grounds besides that of offering greater independence and a chance of rising 

 to the labourer. One of these reasons is that large farms are often under- 

 cultivated and a chapter of the Report is devoted to evidence of under-cul- 

 tivation and to the reasons why it occurs. Amongst the hindrances to 

 the proper development of agriculture which are noted are the following : 



(i) That farmers are prevented by insecurity of tenure from improv- 

 ing their land ; 



(2) That labour is insufficient, the best labourers having migrated to 

 the towns : 



