254 LAND REFORM 



the ten years 1895 to 1904 the Charity Commissioners 

 authorized the sale of real property to the value of 

 nearly four millions sterling, much of which no doubt 

 was agricultural land.^ The Commissioners of Woods 

 and Forests also sold by private contract a large 

 number of small pieces of land during the same year.^ 

 All this land, so far as it is suitable, could be put 

 within the reach of small cultivating owners by the 

 purchase-money being provided by the State. 



Farmers holding charity lands are liable to great 

 rihardships through having their farms sold over the 

 heads. A farmer who is in this position, in a letter 

 to the present writer, states (6 June, 1905): "If my 

 farm were sold, it would be a very great loss to me, 

 as I have been on it all my life, and have m.uch im- 

 proved it in many ways, and I should get little if any 

 compensation if I had to leave it. This is one of 

 the cases in which your Land Purchase Bill would be 

 a great boon were it passed into law, but I am afraid 

 it will be crowded out." 



There is another class of farmers to whom the 

 Land Purchase Bill would be a great boon. Sales 

 of farms, and even estates, are frequently taking place 

 by private contract. The tenants, however much they 

 may wish to buy, have not the money to do so. 

 Their farms are sold over their heads, and they have 

 to accept all that comes from a change of ownership. 



A letter which the present writer has received from 

 a professional man, very well known in agricultural 

 circles, illustrates the hardship of the position of these 

 men. It states (10 March, 1904) : "There is a farm 



* Report of the Charity Commissioners, Cd. 2496, 1905. 

 " For particulars of these sales, see Report of the Commissioners of 

 Woods and Forests, No, 221, 1905. 



