PEASANT PROPRIETARY 217 



It is evident, however, that the Board of Agricul- 

 ture, basing their charges on 2f per cent, instead of 

 4 per cent, could supply land at a much lower cost 

 than local authorities (for the reasons given) are able 

 or disposed to do. But, after some years' experience 

 of the experiment, the clerk of the County Council is 

 able to say : — 



"Hitherto it has been an all-round success, and 

 there are no arrears whatever in the payment of the 

 half-yearly instalments. . . . The men are thrifty, 

 sober, and industrious as a class, and the women are, 

 if anything, better than the men." ^ 



This is not the only effort which the Worcester 

 local authorities have made to retain working-men 

 on the land. Some years ago the North Bromsgrove 

 Urban District Council, of which Mr. Frank Smith is 

 a member, acting under the Allotments Act, 1887, 

 acquired a field of forty-three acres (the Horse Course). 

 This field, which adjoins the Woodrow Farm above re- 

 ferred to, was divided into allotments of from a quarter 

 of an acre to one acre each, which were let at reasonable 

 rents. Several of the tenants, who subsequently be- 

 came peasant proprietors on the Woodrow Farm, were 

 enabled to pay down the required fifth of the purchase 

 price by money made (in addition to other earnings) 

 out of these allotments. The allotment was, in fact, 

 a stepping-stone to the larger holding. Further, 

 some land, situate in Perryfields, consisting of forty- 

 seven acres, had for some years been let on lease as 

 allotments by a private owner. These fields were 

 recently offered for sale, and the men, fearing that 



1 One of the holders has already repaid the County Council the whole 

 of the money advanced, although forty years is the time allowed for re- 

 payment. 



