116 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



there are plenty of examples to show what can be obtained 

 from the small holding properly cropped and run. 

 Incidentally, the question of access to capital has received 

 far less attention in this country than on the Continent ; 

 yet it is the key which unlocks the door to the land and its 

 successful cultivation. 



In my criticism of the small holdings created between 

 1908 and 1 9 14, 1 do not wish to imply that the procedure 

 of the County Councils has been altogether bad ; as 

 far as their own interests are concerned it has been quite 

 good. The County Councils have lost very little money 

 over small holdings ; the smallholders have met their 

 obligations well, and the amount of rent in arrear is 

 negligible. I am not here discussing the post-war 

 situation. 



It is when we come to the interests of the smallholders 

 themselves that our system breaks down ; for, speaking 

 generally, they have not been settled under right con- 

 ditions, and in consequence they are not as effective 

 producers of food as they should be — this to the nation's 

 disadvantage as well as their own. In other countries 

 the Governments have realized, much more clearly than 

 we, the importance of the smallholder in the agricultural 

 community ; and they have taken sound measures to 

 secure the creation of conditions favourable to him. 

 This has not involved spoon-feeding, or paternalism ; 

 the smallholders were simply given opportunity and 

 encouragement to organize and improve their own 

 conditions, and transport was provided as a matter of 

 course and as a national affair. 



In parenthesis, let me say that placing smallholders 

 on the land is " settlement," and creating the right 

 conditions for smallholders is *' scientific settlement " ; 

 but it V* as only when our Government was faced with the 



