PEASANT PROPRIETARY 211 



that they will be taken up, is regarded by most 

 County Councils as a land speculation on which — out 

 of regard for the rates — they are not warranted to 

 enter. 



This view of the case is put in a very clear and 

 practical manner by the Clerk to the East Sussex 

 County Council. He states : — 



"The Small Holdings Act of 1892 contemplates 

 that a tract of agricultural land, suitable for small 

 holdings of from one to fifty acres, should be pur- 

 chased, placed on the Land Registry, divided into 

 lots, and disposed of at such prices as will recoup the 

 cost of purchase and adaptation. There are, prob- 

 ably, not many places where there is such an unsatis- 

 fied demand for small holdings, and where at the same 

 time there are estates in the market on such terms, 

 that the Council may with anything like safety pur- 

 chase an estate in reliance upon being able to part 

 with all the plots at cost prices, and therefore it is 

 scarcely surprising that the Act has not been much 

 resorted to." 



He goes on to say that, unless purchasers for the 

 holdings can be secured in advance, the proceeding 

 contains an element of risk to which guardians of the 

 county rates are naturally slow to resort. 



Reports of some of the County Councils show that 

 there is a genuine demand for land. In a memo- 

 randum of the Warwickshire County Council it is 

 stated : — 



" The bulk of the petitioners were men who were 

 doing well with their allotments. . . . Some of the 

 more energetic of them desired, and would be able to 

 manage, large holdings. All the labourers contem- 

 plated ploughing the land and consuming the produce, 



