388 AMENDED LEGISLATION 



powers for taking action in the first instance ; and, 

 further, to give them the right of appeal to the Board 

 of Agriculture, through a body of Small Holdings 

 Commissioners, where the Council took no steps. 



As stated by Mr. C. R. Buxton in his evidence 

 to the Small Holdings Committee, whose report 

 has just been issued : ' This is not a demand for 

 giving power of acquiring land to bodies which 

 have not previously possessed them, it being already 

 an accepted principle of our legislation to give 

 powers of acquiring agricultural land to County, 

 District, and Parish Councils alike. Nor is it a 

 demand for new compulsory powers, but merely 

 for the extension of existing compulsory powers to 

 holdings of a somewhat larger size.' 



The suggestions for amended legislation which 

 are advocated by the Co-operative Small Holdings 

 Society, of which Mr. Buxton is chairman of the 

 Executive Committee, are as follows : 



1. District and Parish Councils should have 

 power (by an amendment of the Local Government 

 Act, 1894) to apply to the County Council for 

 an order for the compulsory hiring or purchase of 

 land, without any limit to the size of the holdings 

 into which it may be divided. The land should be 

 hired or purchased by the County Council and 

 ' assured ' to the District or Parish Council for 

 management. 



2. County Councils (in addition to the power to 

 grant the order above mentioned, and to assure 

 land to District or Parish Councils) should have 



