COLONISING CROWN LANDS. 97 



Small Holdings Committee. This, though it 

 may have been quite a straightforward trans- 

 action, is significant of the value of knowing 

 beforehand the reserve price fixed by the 

 county council at a public auction. 



In Lincolnshire I actually found the chair- 

 man of a County Council and member of the 

 Small Holdings Committee publicly bidding 

 for a farm after the reserve price the County 

 Council were prepared to pay had been passed 

 by a clear £1000 ! This means that the 

 chairman, as a private individual, believed 

 apparently that the farm was worth more 

 than the price fixed by the County Council 

 valuer. If so, was it not clearly his duty on 

 committee to state the price he would be 

 prepared to pay ? For it is evident that if the 

 reserved price is fixed too low the ratepayers 

 lose an opportunity of a good investment, and 

 intending small holders are deprived of their 

 land. Surely if a sense of honour is not great 

 enough to restrain councillors from entering 

 into competition with their own council, some 

 law should be passed to prevent such actions, 

 similar to the law we have to-day, restraining 

 councillors from voting with regard to contracts 

 in which they are personally interested. 



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