122 Large and Small Holdings 



whole the bitter words of that old Parliamentarian, Sir Francis 

 Channing, are true : " It is an age of extreme luxury, when estates 

 are bought by the enormously rich for social prestige, and without 

 thought of the duty that attaches to the owner of land as the nation's 

 trustee. With many, the passion for sport overrides everything, and 

 will throw every obstacle in the way of sub-division, which endangers 

 the interests of shooting or of hunting 1 ." 



Yet a third class of opponents of small holdings is formed by the 

 large farmers themselves, who are also strongly opposed to the letting 

 of allotments to labourers. Their objections seem to be only partly 

 due to the considerations of political or social advantage or general 

 amenity which are at the root of the opposition of landlords and land- 

 agents. They claim that their dislike is in the main based on economic 

 considerations : and their arguments are those which their predeces- 

 sors employed before them. They say that allotments will make the 

 labourer too independent, and will lead him to expend more and 

 better labour on his own holding than on theirs. Their ideal is still 

 a proletarian labouring class, as appears in every discussion on small 

 holdings and the rural exodus 2 . Yet it would seem a matter for 

 serious consideration on their part whether, in view of the exodus 

 from the land and the much-lamented shortage of labour, it would 

 not suit them better to have labourers holding land than no labourers 

 at all. Would not a constant supply of labour and the retention of 

 the young men on the land be better than insufficient numbers of 

 ageing men ? Kentish farmers are said to engage all manner of 

 people from the towns nearest to them for their harvest work clerks, 

 petty officials, etc., who spend their holidays in this manner and so 

 combine pleasure with profit. It hardly seems reasonable that farmers 

 in such a position should grudge the labourer his allotment, instead 

 of rejoicing at a means which would put labour at his disposal when 

 he needed it. The smallest holdings keep the younger labourers on 

 the soil and so would supply him with regular daily labour. The 

 larger allotments should provide the necessary occasional labour, 

 especially where they consist of grass land, and the wife is able to 

 look after the cow-sheds and milk the cows when her husband is out 

 at work. It is frequently reported that such allotment-holders make 

 the best labourers 3 . In short, the economic objections of the large 

 farmer seem to be rather a traditional prejudice than a genuine argu- 

 ment, even if they are made in good faith, which is often doubtful. 



1 Small Holdings Report, 1906, p. 53. 



2 Cp. e.g. Proceedings of the Central Chamber of Agriculture, 1901, p. 116. 



3 Earl of Onslow, op. cit. p. 47. 



