Small Holdings and Agriculture 



prospect of such a course being adopted : 

 already the counterblast to the Radical system 

 of developing small holding tenancies has ap- 

 eared in the Unionist policy of small holding 

 ownership. 



It is clear that every facility should be provided 

 to enable any suitable person to buy land ; 

 especially is it essential for every sitting tenant 

 irrespective of the size of his holding to have 

 the opportunity to purchase that holding should 

 the occasion arise. 



In some parts of the country there is a desire 

 for ownership, in others that inclination is 

 entirely wanting. 



In any case, it is clearly better that the small 

 holder should begin his career as a tenant; even 

 if he purchases the holding later on he should 

 find his legs as a tenant — ^just as a child must 

 learn to walk before it can run. A safe guiding 

 rule would therefore be " through tenancy to 

 ownership." 



The case is quite different of a man well versed 

 in the art of cultivating a small holding, as he 

 could in most instances without difficulty pay the 

 purchase money instalments ; and there ought 

 to be special financial machinery for providing 

 loans for the purchase of land which would be 

 quite distinct from the credit banks that are 

 meant to provide short loans to act as the 

 tenant's working capital. 



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