THE COUNCIL'S DIFFICULTIES 379 



Authority has offered the most satisfactory terms, 

 pure prejudice has prevented the land from being 

 hired to them. 



There is also the case where the whole of a 

 village or district is owned by one man, who 

 absolutely refuses to meet the local requirements, 

 although the men have proved themselves com- 

 petent and successful on what land they have 

 got. 



It remains, however, to be considered whether 

 the methods of the County Council would be much 

 affected by granting them compulsory powers. 



It would in most cases be simply placing these 

 powers in the hands of the very men who most 

 strongly object to them. Even those members 

 who would be inclined to act upon them would 

 certainly be handicapped by the fact that it would 

 often mean using them against their own neigh- 

 bours, landlords, or tenants. It is to meet these 

 reasons that the legislation suggested on page 65 

 has been framed. 



Difficulties from the County Councils' 

 Point of View. 



One aspect of the difficulties in working the 

 Act from the point of view of the County Councils 

 themselves seems very clearly indicated in the follow- 

 ing report of the Small Holdings Committee of the 

 Wiltshire County Council, of which many of the 

 members were of most progressive tendencies, and 



