84 A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



In the first place are certain minor services 

 coming under the Diseases of Animals Acts, 

 the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, and 

 the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, which 

 have to be defrayed, without subvention from 

 Government funds, from the County General 

 Purposes Rate. 



Then comes the administration of the Small 

 Holdings and Allotments Acts, the whole cost 

 of which until 31st March 1926 will be borne 

 by the Treasury. After that date the small 

 holdings estate will revert at a valuation to 

 the County Council. Thirdly, there are the 

 powers hitherto exercised by the Agricultural 

 Executive Committees and the Land Drainage 

 Committees. The whole cost of these services 

 will fall on the Ministry, and, even after the 

 mystic septennial period beyond which im- 

 perial responsibility for small holdings ex- 

 penditure is not to go, taxes and not county 

 rates will bear these burdens. 



The proportion of the total expenditure of 

 the Agricultural Committees on each of these 

 three groups will roughly be 3 per cent, on 

 the first or purely County Council charges, 

 42 per cent, on the second group, for which 

 the Ministry will remain entirely responsible 

 until 1926, and 55 per cent, on the third 

 group, for which the Ministry are responsible 

 for all time. This analysis (which, while it 

 may differ slightly in different areas, is, within 



