120 CREATION OF SMALL HOLDINGS 



thought on which they acted. ' Heaven's injunction 

 is that man shall eat bread in the sweat of his brow, 

 or, in phrase less figurative, that the felicities of life 

 should be the reward of labour. Heaven's justice 

 is manifest in the fact that with the command to 

 labour was given the land from which to derive the 

 bread. But the land has fallen a prey to ruthless 

 monopoly, and man, in the rampancy of irrespon- 

 sible power, has driven his brother from those fields 

 where the reward of his toil would be peace, abun- 

 dance and independence.' The prospectus goes on 

 to show in glowing terms, which, however, would 

 only mislead a townsman, how on 3 acres a man 

 can support himself and a family by producing 

 his own vegetables and wheat, milk and butter, 

 bacon and eggs. The company undertook to 

 supply such holdings ready made, with a house, to 

 start upon at once. 



The second company, the Small Farm and 

 Labourers Land Company, was formed exactly 

 forty years later in 1885. Its fundamental idea 

 was a more rational one ; it merely aimed, by 

 buying estates to resell in lots, to bring land within 

 reach of all classes of buyers, who were to pursue 

 their own ways of cultivation. The company's 

 methods were to be very elastic, and, whether the 

 purchasers were townsmen or agriculturists, it was 

 hoped the experiment would have the effect of 

 creating a larger number of small land proprietors 

 about the country. 

 The third company was formed in 1902 under 



