DIFFICULTIES AND A REMEDY 281 



necessitated the dealing with thirty-five persons instead 

 of one, the exercise of effective control, from such a 

 distance, over what was happening in the neighbour- 

 hood of Spalding, became a matter of no little difficulty. 

 Under these conditions the agent could not be person- 

 ally acquainted with all the applicants for tenancy ; he 

 could not guarantee that he always selected competent 

 and trustworthy men ; he could not keep close watch 

 over the cultivation of the holdings, and he could not 

 avoid losses of rent when tenants went away without 

 giving notice or without paying what they owed. 



These experiences illustrate what may well happen 

 when a great land-owner, however beneficent in his 

 intentions, seeks to operate a large scheme of allotments 

 and small holdings himself, and they may seem to 

 excuse the attitude that land-owners have sometimes 

 taken. But in this instance a way out of the difficulty 

 was found by the formation of the South Lincolnshire 

 Small Holdings Association. What had already been 

 done by Lord Carrington had greatly stimulated the 

 demand for allotments and small holdings, especially 

 when it was seen that the tenants were getting land at 

 reasonable rents, with security of tenure, and were able 

 to apply all their surplus cash to the immediate 

 development of their holding, instead of paying it away 

 as a first instalment for purchase. A great opportunity 

 presented itself at Lady Day, 1895, when the Willow 

 Tree Farm, 217 acres in extent (also on Lord Carring- 

 ton's estate) became vacant. Individual members of 

 the club wished to have separate portions, but it was 

 clearly preferable that the farm should be dealt with as 

 a whole ; and here it was necessary to create an inter- 

 mediate authority, or principal tenant, who would take 

 over the entire farm on a lease, and arrange payment 

 of tenant right, etc. 



