CHAPTER IV. 



SMALL HOLDINGS : ARE THEY A PANACEA ? 



There is one point on which many a Tribune 

 of the People, who is accustomed to settle the 

 problem of the languishing agricultural industry 

 in Great Britain with a wag of his tongue, so to 

 speak, can be quite sure, and that is the effi- 

 cacy of small holdings. If the land can only 

 be split up into sufficiently small areas and 

 the ' great landlord " abolished, agriculture 

 will nourish for ever after. There are two 

 schools of advocates of small holdings — a Radical 

 wing of the Liberal Party, which would divide 

 up practically all estates, and which favours 

 keeping the small-holder as a tenant of a public 

 body (thus indirectly in time securing the 

 nationalization of the land) ; and a Conserva- 

 tive school, which would extend the number of 



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