FOREST SUPPLY ASSOCIATION 55 



and higglers. A woman will take 500 eggs to 

 Kidderminster on a market-day, of which perhaps 

 50 would be her own, and the rest her neighbours', 

 for whom she sells on a small commission. As far 

 ahead as these people can see, their trade or the 

 trade of their neighbours is being taken off them by 

 systems of co-operation ; and it will probably require 

 years of patience and very efficient and business- 

 like management to educate them up to the 

 co-operative idea. A weak point in this under- 

 taking seems to be the fact that the people who 

 are responsible for the whole thing are not the 

 people actually concerned in the sale of their goods. 

 In this way it differs from Danish co-operative 

 undertakings, and, in fact, is not co-operative in 

 the Danish sense. It may be, however, that this is 

 the only means of beginning in this country with a 

 new idea. 



The special considerations on the whole question 

 of small holdings which the circumstances of the 

 locality call up are as follows : 



We have here a district made up entirely of 

 small holdings of a natural growth, evidently 

 originated by squatters on the original Crown lands 

 of the forest district. The particular employment 

 engendered by the neighbourhood of mines and 

 forest viz., of a spasmodic character and with 

 much piecework has made a small holding a 

 particularly valuable asset as an adjunct to such 

 occupations. This is especially so in the case of 

 the foresters, who are supplied with winter and 



