SMALL-HOLDING OWNERSHIP IN 

 DENMARK 



My attention was first turned to the agricultural 

 affairs of Denmark, now a good many years ago, by a 

 desire to investigate the small-holdings which I had 

 heard were so numerous there, but by one cause and 

 another I have always been prevented from under- 

 taking any such investigation. During the year 1910, 

 however, the small-holding question has come much to 

 the fore in Great Britain. Thus Mr. Balfour, who at 

 the moment of writing is the leader of the Opposition, 

 has intimated that if the Unionist party is returned to 

 power it will pass measures to enable farmers of land 

 to buy freeholds with the aid of funds advanced directly 

 or indirectly by the State. 



What those measures are to be, what will be the 

 limit of the funds available, whether they will apply to 

 all farmers or only to those who are known as small- 

 holders, I have been unable to discover. Indeed, at 

 present they seem to me to partake rather of the 

 nature of a pious aspiration than of that of a settled 

 policy to be acted upon when the opportunity comes. 

 Perhaps, too, the exigencies of party politics have had 

 some influence in the matter, and, consciously or un- 

 consciously, these prospective small-ownerships are 

 intended as a counterblast to the tenancies under the 

 County Councils created by the terms of the Act of 

 1908. 1 



1 All this summary was written just before the General Election of 

 December 1910. One result of this election will probably be a post- 

 213 



