212 LAND REFORM 



keeping pigs chiefly for manure-making purposes. 

 The demand for more allotment land has considerably 

 increased, owing to the agricultural depression, which 

 has seriously curtailed the employment of labour, and 

 has left the men with time on their hands, which 

 might profitably be employed in cultivating more land 

 on their own account." 



All this goes to show that, while a local authority 

 is the best agency for supplying local demands for 

 small allotments, the provision of small holdings for 

 the creation of a peasant proprietary is a national 

 concern, which can best be carried out by a central 

 authority having funds at its command for that special 

 purpose. 



The large portion — 20 per cent — of the purchase- 

 money required to be paid in a lump sum, neces- 

 sarily prevents poor men from buying a holding, 

 however suitable they may be as cultivators. Much 

 of the land, therefore, bought by County Councils 

 has been let instead of sold. This is the next best 

 thing to purchase, because a man renting under a 

 local authority is in quite a different position from 

 one renting under a private owner. The rent he pays 

 is, as a rule, a fair one, and is not likely to be raised 

 on his own improvements. Moreover, his tenure is 

 a fairly secure one so long as he cultivates the land 

 and pays his rent. 



Taking into consideration all these adverse cir- 

 cumstances, the Small Holdings Act cannot fairly be 

 described as a failure. Up to the end of 1902, 

 eight County Councils in England and Wales had 

 put the Act into operation.^ They had, at that date, 

 acquired a total area of 569 acres of land for the 



' See Parli;imentary Paper No. 192, Session 1903. 



