The Farmer 



capable man can make a fair living off 25 acres. 



And from a national point of view small 

 farmers of the 25 acre type are much more 

 valuable and useful citizens, and lend a far 

 greater stability to the social fabric, than the 

 labourers who work for the large farmer and 

 who have no direct interest in the land. Yet I 

 know many land agents who still follow the 

 practice of letting a neighbouring small farm to 

 the large tenant, instead of on principle keeping 

 it for a small farmer. These very large farmers 

 are hostile on the whole, I fear, to small hold- 

 ings — it is in human nature that they should be 

 so ; but in many districts the only land available 

 for the creation of small holdings is held by 

 these men. Naturally, in the effort to create 

 these I should be strongly opposed to any direct 

 injustice being done to the very large farmer ; 

 he must be treated with every consideration, 

 and in case of disturbance must be given fair 

 and reasonable compensation. But the right of 

 access to the land must not be denied to the 

 many, simply because the process causes some 

 inconvenience to a few men in possession of 

 uneconomically large holdings. 



I would rather see the required land taken 

 from the very large farmer than a single field 

 from a man with under 300 acres — which should 

 have been the minimum named in the Small 

 Holdings Act. Depriving such a farm of a 



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