2i8 LAND REFORM 



by a change of ownership they would lose the land, 

 applied to the County Council to secure it for them. 

 The Council thereupon bought the land, at a cost of 

 ;^3000, and when the lease has expired — in two or 

 three years — it will be sold to applicants under the 

 provisions of the Small Holdings Act, 1892. About 

 ten years ago, in another part of the county, the 

 Council took, on a lease of twenty-one years, forty- 

 eight acres of glebe land, which they have also let in 

 allotments. 



But the benefits conferred on the peasants and 

 others at Catshill are not confined to them. They 

 extend to the shopkeepers, manufacturers, and others. 

 Take a homely illustration of the process. These 

 men before they were placed on the land came into a 

 town — say to Birmingham — to seek employment. The 

 reply of employers to their applications was : " We 

 don't want your labour ; we have no vacancies." 

 These same men now come into the same locality, 

 and their application is in a different form. " You did 

 not want our labour. Do you want our produce — 

 fruit, vegetables, flowers, etc.?" The reply now is, 

 ** Yes, we did not want your labour, but we are in daily 

 need of your produce, and will take as much as you 

 can bring," ^ 



To carry on the illustration, the men receive the 

 money for their produce, but do not put it into a 

 stocking. They straightway lay out most of it in 

 clothes, boots, groceries, spades, implements, and such 

 other requirements as their new position makes neces- 

 sary. Their horses have to be shod, carts and harness 



1 Of course, the men do not always sell direct to the consumer, but 

 to the middle-man or the retail dealer. This, however, does not affect 

 the principle of the illustration. 



