CHAPTER VI 



SMALL HOLDINGS ASSOCIATIONS ES- 

 TABLISHED THROUGH THE PRIVATE 

 ENTERPRISE OF INDIVIDUALS 



WE have now come to an end of those schemes 

 whose real object, whether they succeeded in it or 

 not, was the establishment of small proprietors on 

 the land. It has been pointed out how the genuine 

 agriculturist seldom made any use of the oppor- 

 tunities offered to him to acquire land. In those 

 cases, dealt with in the last chapter, where he has 

 done so, it has been largely owing to the personal 

 element of a local resident or of some one con- 

 nected in other ways with the district. Amongst 

 the schemes undertaken by means of companies, 

 the Small Farm and Labourers' Land Company 

 alone offered the alternative of renting land, and 

 we have much testimony to show that in every 

 case this was eagerly taken up, and the demand for 

 land to hire exceeded the supply. After realizing 

 the somewhat qualified success of undertakings 

 dealing with cultivating ownership, it is refreshing 

 to turn to the results of another form of scheme 

 where the object is the supply of land to the 



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