212 TENURE AND CO-OPERATION 



The System of Tenure as affecting the 

 Co-operative Idea. 



Another consideration suggested by these under- 

 takings is that it is difficult, in schemes which 

 merely aim at creating freeholds, not to incur the 

 evils pertaining to the absence of all sense of 

 communal interest. In a collection of holdings 

 with something binding them together as a com- 

 munity it is easier to enforce rules or conditions for 

 the good of the whole colony ; moreover, when 

 associated, the members have greater power than 

 as individual units to control circumstances con- 

 ducive to their own benefit. Major Poore realized 

 this, and by his plan of creating a Land Court which 

 holds the leases (and therefore retains the power 

 of enforcing rules), and possesses a fund to be used 

 for the common benefit, he has managed to establish 

 to a certain degree a sense of community where 

 the men are practically independent freeholders. 

 This at least forms a basis on which any introduc- 

 tion of co-operative methods or association amongst 

 the members for obtaining other benefits could rest. 

 In the case of tenancies this feature is perhaps 

 partially replaced by the landlord, whether a private 

 individual or a body, who can insist on good 

 cultivation, the destruction of harmful weeds, and 

 a few other points necessary for the common 

 welfare. 



In a subsequent chapter it will be shown how 

 the highest fulfilment of this communal interest is 



