SMALL HOLDINGS. 323 



in him. It seemed so much a decree of Nature that things 

 should be as they were, that natural torpor and inertia 

 blocked the way to progress. There was also the familiar 

 " lion in the way." Landlords might or might not object 

 to the new policy. Some did not ; more did. The thing 

 was so new and they were by nature so opposed to change 

 of any sort ! The creation of small holdings would make 

 the country bright and add new votes to " our side " — 

 whichever side that might be. People in the country think 

 of this. Have we not still " Tory Terrace " in old Lewes 

 as a memorial of the attempt to create new faggot votes 

 — on the very eve, as it happened, of the abolition of faggot 

 votes ? But it would upset the established order of things, 

 cause trouble, disturb and annoy the farmers already 

 settled, and cost money. For if there were to be small 

 holdings, there must also be additional buildings upon them. 

 And money is what not every landlord has at his ready 

 disposal. However not a few landlords, including men of 

 the very old school, detected clearly how the change pro- 

 posed would benefit their estate and also public welfare. 

 And they have owned themselves satisfied with the results 

 obtained. Where the small should-be tenants held back 

 for want of cash, I have even been asked to "go down " 

 and " form a credit bank for them," which request I clearly 

 could not comply with, since it is the beneficiaries them- 

 selves who necessarily will have to " form " their own 

 bank. 



There is not the slightest ground for setting such indis- 

 position as has prevailed among landlords down to selfish 

 motives. These men may not have discerned, as some of 

 their brethren did, how much the change would benefit 

 themselves. Those who have discerned it, have profited 

 by it and now receive more money and that more punctu- 

 ally. However, the cause of small holdings labours under 

 this disadvantage, that experiments have already been made 

 —on wrong fines — and have accordingly proved disappoint- 

 ing. So it has become a settled belief among the older 

 school of our landlords that small holders cannot make 

 their holdings pay. 



