i84 LAND REFORM 



that short time, and there can be no reasonable doubt 

 that this increase was due mainly to the provisions of 

 the Act.^ 



The Small Holdings part of the Bill of 1886 was not 

 dealt with in the year (1887) when the allotments part 

 was passed into law, but the Government appointed 

 a Select Committee to consider the question. This 

 Committee, of which Mr. Chamberlain was chairman, 

 reported in 1890 in favour of the proposals of the 

 Small Holdings Bill, "with such alterations as in 

 their opinion would add to their value and secure 

 the practical success of the scheme."^ In 1892, Mr. 

 Chaplin, President of the Board of Agriculture, on 

 behalf of the Government, introduced a Small Hold- 

 ings Bill based on this report, which Bill was passed 

 into law the same year.^ 



The last piece of legislation dealing with labourers 

 and the land was the Local Government Act, 1894, 

 introduced by Sir Henry Fowler. Under that Act a 

 Parish Council is empowered to hire or purchase land 

 by agreement and let the same in allotments not 

 exceeding one acre of arable and three acres of 

 pasture, or four acres of pasture, to one person. The 

 Parish Council has no power to take land com- 

 pulsorily ; but in case they are unable to acquire it on 

 reasonable terms by agreement, they may apply to the 

 County Council, who may, if they think fit, cause a 



^ In 1886 the number of allotments under one acre was 353,821 ; in 

 1890, 448,586. Since 1890 the increase has been equally rapid, so that 

 it might be said that the demand for allotments is now fairly well sup- 

 plied. These returns deal with England and Wales only. They refer 

 to detached allotments, and do not include gardens and other ground 

 attached to cottages. 



^ Report of the Select Committee on Small Holdings, 1890, No. 223. 



" The provisions of this Act and its operation will be fully described 

 in a later chapter, " Land Hunger and Peasant Proprietary." 



