222 LAND REFORM 



The purchaser was required to pay down lo per 

 cent of the purchase-money, the balance with interest 

 to be repaid in twenty half-yearly instalments. Never- 

 theless, the directors, in answer to their advertisement, 

 received applications from 1200 persons, from whom 

 they selected twenty-five, the number then required. 

 At the end of last year all the land had been sold 

 with the exception of seventy-eight acres, fifteen acres 

 of v/hich are wood and six acres retained for the 

 manor house. Sixteen cottages up to that time had 

 been built. ^ 



This experiment appears to be very promising, but 

 it is, as yet, too young to show how it will finally 

 succeed. It can hardly be expected that it will be so 

 successful — from a money point of view — as similar 

 experiments carried on on the more favourable terms 

 the State can offer. It is mentioned here mainly to 

 show the great demand which exists for ownerships of 

 small holdings of land. 



It must be remembered that though such a vast 

 number of people have been driven from our country- 

 sides, they, or their sons or sons' sons, still exist in 

 the large centres of industry. Many of them have 

 acquired small means and — tired of the competition 

 and grind of town life — would willingly go back to 

 the land if the opportunities referred to were offered 

 to them.'^ 



^ The directors are Mr. James Tomkinson, M.P. (chairman), Mr. John 

 Spear, M.P., Mr. S. R. Whitley, and Mr. James Long. Mr. Long, whose 

 personal knowledge of small cultivation at home and in most continental 

 countries is probably unsurpassed, is the managing director. 



2 The mere report of the introduction of the Bill has brought numer- 

 ous inquiries from men of different classes, such as hauliers, small cab 

 proprietors, coachmen, gardeners, caretakers, etc., all of them brought 

 up on the land. These men have a knowledge of cultivation, they pos- 

 sess a little money, and would gladly return to country life on the condi- 



