270 THE AYLESTONE ALLOTMENTS 



up. Then, again, the financial operations are facilitated 

 by the fact of the tenants especially at first being 

 required to pay six months' rent in advance. Non- 

 shareholders may rent an allotment when one is vacant, 

 but a shareholder gets the preference. The average 

 rent paid per allotment is about 12s. the year. 



Operations were thus started by the society with only 

 an extremely moderate demand on the financial resources 

 of its members. The position was, in fact, very different 

 from what it would have been had they resolved to buy, 

 instead of renting, the land they wanted. The 21 acres, 

 at 120 per acre, would have cost them 2,520, of 

 which amount they would have been expected to pay 

 down at least 600, leaving the remainder on mortgage. 

 But when the society was formed, in 1901, the members 

 could not have raised even 100. By accepting the 

 principle of tenancy instead of ownership, and sub- 

 scribing, as I have shown, the modest sum of 35. each, 

 they avoided any financial difficulty, and kept the 

 remainder of their scanty savings for seeds, plants, 

 tools, or manure. The society, as tenant-in-chief, has 

 good landlords to deal with one of them, Sir J. Rolles- 

 ton, is a warm supporter of the movement and patron 

 of the society and the allotment holders, as tenants 

 of the society, are really in a better position than if 

 they had run the risk of financial embarrassment by 

 becoming owners of the land they hold. 



In confirmation of this view I would point to the fact 

 that in the course of a single year no fewer than 29 

 out of the total of 172 allotments changed hands, owing 

 to removals from the district or to other causes. Such 

 frequent changes are characteristic alike of allotments 

 and small holdings, and, where the land is owned by 

 the person who is leaving, it may very well happen that 

 he will lose on the sale, while the cost of transfer may 



