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the country as a whole the Small Holdings Act has not provided oppor- 

 tunity for more than 3 per cent, of the farm labourers to become con- 

 trollers of land, even if all holdings were occupied by erstwhile labourers, 

 which is not the case. The majority are occupied by men who were 

 not farm labourers previous to obtaining a small holding. 



Perhaps some 4 per cent, of the labourers can actually become small 

 holders, and a few become larger farmers. Also about 2 per cent, 

 can become bailiffs or foremen. But in any case not more than 7 or 

 8 per cent, can rise to positions of control of land and capital, while 

 they remain in the industry ; and i or the majority of the remainder 

 their positions and earnings are fixed by the standard of the class 

 they attain by the age of twenty-five or thirty years. 



The ' agricultural ladder ' which has been talked about since 

 Mr. Chamberlain began his land campaign in 1885 has not been realised, 

 nor are there any signs of realising an ' agricultural ladder ' which 

 would be open to even half of the labourers. The lower rungs of that 

 ladder were supposed to be allotments and small holdings ; but the 

 allotment came into rural economy to provide a means by which the 

 labourer could turn his leisure to account and thus obtain a subsidiary 

 source of income to eke out the insufficient income received in the form 

 of wages. The demand for allotments in rural areas was always most 

 keen where wages were lowest and employment most irregular. As 

 employment is regularised or wages tend to rise there is a tendency 

 amongst labourers to relinquish their allotments. The demand for 

 small holdings, also, depends to a considerable extent on the rate of 

 wages. It is not most keen where wages reach the lowest level, because 

 in those districts there is no surplus of income from which to save the 

 capital necessary for even the smallest holding. However, a study 

 of the demand for small holdings since 1908 has revealed the fact that 

 the demand is comparatively small in the districts in which rates of 

 wages exceed the average. The average earnings of ordinary agri- 

 cultural labourers in 1907 were 17s. 6d. per week, and dividing the coun- 

 ties into groups in which earnings are above and below the average 

 it is found that only 15 per 1,000 labourers have applied for small 

 holdings from 293,000 labourers in counties in which earnings exceed 

 the average, while 25 per 1,000 have applied for holdings from 294,000 

 labourers in counties in which earnings are below the average. If this 

 diagnosis can be trusted, it tends to show that an improvement in the 

 general conditions of employment would be more welcome to the rural 

 worker in general than the offer of small holdings. 



The conditions under which small holdings are obtained and worked 

 might be made easier by changes in the law and its administration, 

 by the provision of capital and the organisation of co-operative systems, 

 and these changes should be secured for workers who are keen to obtain 

 control of land and capital and capable of managing them. But no 

 extension of small holdings which can be foreseen will radically affect 

 the position of the rural worker. In 1911 there were nearly 500,000 

 men over the age of twenty years employed in agriculture. Under 



