SUPPLYING LOCAL DEMAND 303 



to very old people or widows, and there are many 

 cases of this latter class of people being able to 

 support themselves partially in cottages to which 

 forest rights are attached. 



While driving through the neighbourhood with 

 Mr. Eyre, he pointed out many small freeholds 

 where the former occupying tenants were able to 

 pay up to 100 an acre, cash down, when a chance 

 occurred for them to acquire the freehold of their 

 old homes. Here, side by side with the old mud 

 cottages of original squatters, substantial cottages 

 or buildings had been erected by their present 

 owners. 



Reviewing this estate as a whole, one is chiefly 

 struck by it as an instance of what a landlord can 

 do when his property is of such a size that he can 

 have a personal knowledge of all details connected 

 with it. This necessarily demands a knowledge of 

 the established local agricultural conditions, and by 

 making it his business to keep in touch with these 

 conditions and adapt his estate to them, the benefits 

 to himself and his tenants are mutual. Mr. Eyre 

 has introduced no new ideas, nor tried to impose 

 methods which are foreign to the class of people he 

 is dealing with. He has simply recognized what 

 was wanted to prevent the extermination of a 

 thrifty, independent race of men, who, if they were 

 not deprived of the small pieces of land which were 

 necessary to enable them to use their inherited 

 knowledge, might be trusted to work out their 

 own salvation. 



