PURCHASING BIAS OF ACT 375 



out while they can and get along as they were 

 before. 



In due course the Sub-Committee report, and 

 the Council gravely state in their resolutions : 



' The applications were withdrawn, and no further 

 action was therefore taken in the matter.' 



That neighbourhood has been settled. The 

 Council had done its best, and no doubt are now 

 ' awaiting further applications.' 



PURCHASING BIAS OF THE ACT. 



It has been already mentioned that the demands 

 of all applicants for land have been almost invari- 

 ably to hire and not to purchase it. 



In the first place, the Council is only authorized 

 to lease land itself ' where land, through its proximity 

 to a town or suitability for building purposes, or 

 for any other special reason, has a prospective value 

 which in the opinion of the County Council is too 

 high to make its purchase for agricultural purposes 

 desirable.' 



This clause can be made a loophole for escape 

 from taking any action e.g., in the case of West- 

 morland, where a petition was received in 1899 

 from seven men who wanted to hire land. The 

 official doom is pronounced as follows : 



* It was not shown that the land applied for was 

 building land, or that there was any special reason 

 why it should be hired under Section 2, other than 

 its accommodation value for agricultural pur- 



