320 THE SMALL HOLDINGS ACT 



14. That the Local Authority should have power 

 at any time to resume possession of the land for 

 public purposes or for building land, on payment of 

 full compensation, based on its value as an agricul- 

 tural occupation. 



15. That any legislation on this subject should 

 apply to the whole of Great Britain. 



16. That in the first instance the advance of 

 public money to Local Authorities for the purpose of 

 creating small holdings should not exceed a total 

 sum of 5,000,000, and that no Local Authority 

 should be authorized to pledge the local rates for 

 any sum which should involve an annual change in 

 the shape of interest and sinking fund exceeding 

 Id. in the on the rateable value of the district 

 of such Local Authority. 



In considering the subsequent legislation, which 

 arose out of the findings of this Committee, one 

 must remember that it is all in the nature of new 

 and direct legislation on the top of our existing 

 land laws. All the witnesses made very strong 

 assertions as to the fact that present legislation 

 as regards settlement, entail, primogeniture, and 

 transfer tended to the aggregation of land in large 

 quantities and increased the difficulty of obtaining 

 it in a natural manner for small-holding purposes. 

 Strong opinions were expressed that an alteration 

 of the law in these respects would tend to sub- 

 division of land apart from any direct legislation 

 for this purpose. These sentiments were, either 

 altogether or in part, so unanimously upheld by 



