FEASANT REVOLTS 185 



public inquiry to be made, and if satisfied that a 

 demand exists which cannot be supplied by voluntary 

 arrangement, may provide a provisional order for the 

 purchase of special land under the provisions of the 

 Lands Clauses Acts which relate to the taking of 

 land otherwise than by agreement. In case the 

 County Council decline to act, the Parish Council may 

 appeal to the Local Government Board, and the 

 Board, after a further local inquiry at which owners, 

 occupiers, and all concerned are represented, may, if 

 they think fit, overrule the decision of the County 

 Council, and make a provisional order for the purchase 

 of the land required. These proceedings, however, 

 are so cumbrous, and the expenses connected with a 

 forced purchase — including compensation to landlord 

 and tenant for severance, etc. — are so heavy, that 

 the compulsory clauses of the Act, like those of the 

 Allotments Act of 1887, have rarely been put in 

 force. 



The provision of allotments and small holdings 

 under the several Acts named has no doubt added 

 largely to the comfort of the labourers who still 

 remain on the land. In many cases the possession of 

 allotments — even as tenants — has been the decidino- 

 factor in keeping them from migrating. But the 

 Small Holdings Act of 1892 is the only one of the 

 measures referred to that has had the effect — so far as 

 its limited operation goes — of anchoring the men 

 permanently on the soil. Allotments alone have few 

 attractions for the younger men, or for the more 

 enterprising among those of older years. Hence it is 

 that the steady flow of men and women from country 

 to town continues practically unchecked. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that the scanty 



