Small Holdings and Agriculture 



ing of land, either direct from a landowner, or 

 through a local authority. 



" Under this system the landowner or the 

 County Council deals not with a number of 

 individual units, but with a group of small 

 holders formed into a registered co-operative 

 society. The society rents a farm as a whole 

 and sub-lets it by mutual arrangement among 

 the members, on such terms as will cover the 

 rent which the society must pay, plus a small 

 charge for expenses. The landowner or the 

 County Council thus receives the total rent in 

 a lump sum from the society, and is relieved both 

 of the trouble of collecting from all the tenants 

 and of any risk of loss. A committee formed 

 by the small holders themselves can collect 

 the rents with less friction than an agent or an 

 official could do. The fact that the members 

 of the society are jointly and severally respon- 

 sible gives them an incentive to bring moral 

 suasion to bear on defaulting neighbours, while 

 the Board of Agriculture requires that such 

 land-renting societies should have a share 

 capital, called or uncalled, equal to three years' 

 rent of the land it takes over, or, alternatively, 

 should pay six months' rent in advance and 

 have uncalled share capital equal to the amount 

 of rent for another eighteen months. 



" The main advantage to the small holders 

 is that they can get the land at a lower rent. 



245 



