132 A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



statutory small holders with the total area of 

 cultivated land in England and Wales. 



At the outbreak of war the Treasury refused 

 to sanction any money being spent by County 

 Councils for providing small holdings. By the 

 end of 19 14 — after the Small Holdings Act had 

 been in force seven years — the area acquired, 

 or agreed to be acquired, for small holdings 

 only amounted to 195,498 acres, that is, less 

 than 1 per cent, of the whole cultivated area. 

 If you add to this the total number of acres 

 acquired for, or promised to, ex-soldiers — that 

 is, 260,553 acres — you get a total acreage of 

 456,051, which is even now less than 2 per 

 cent, of the total cultivated area of 26,507,000 

 of England and Wales. 



It is curious that the man who had the 

 audacity to apply for small holdings was, and is 

 still, subject to a close examination as to his 

 fitness to cultivate a few acres of land and the 

 capital he possessed. (Imagine the extent of 

 the savings of the agricultural labourer who 

 earned on an average before the war 17s. 9d. 

 a week, including all allowances, and the ex- 

 soldier who had, at the close of the War, his 

 is. 6d. a day !) And yet the farmer who applies 

 for the tenancy of many broad acres has rarely 

 been asked to prove his fitness. On the best- 

 managed estates, it is true, inquiries are made, 

 but on how many is the only question put 

 whether the applicant is a good sportsman or 



