20 



to overshadow all the rest is the cost of equipment. The 

 difficulty, as one report says, u is not in obtaining land, but in 

 " the cost of putting up the requisite buildings," or in another 

 phrase, " the essential difficulty is the cost of erecting buildings 

 " meeting the modern requirements of sanitary authorities and 

 " the prospect of insufficient return in the shape of rent." The 

 greatly increased outlay on the house alone, as compared with 

 former times, is commented on. 



Allusion is made by several correspondents to the fact thai 

 the rents of small holdings are high in comparison with those 

 of medium or large farms, and the cost of equipment is referred 

 to as one of the causes. The capital outlay involved necessarily 

 works out at a higher sum per acre on a small area than on a 

 large one, and except by the provision of cheaper capital or by 

 the erection of a less durable house and buildings in the one 

 case than in the other, it is difficult to see how this inequality 

 can be avoided. The higher rents of small holdings are also 

 sometimes attributable, as is frequently pointed out, to other 

 causes, such as proximity to markets, advantages of soil and 

 situation, as well as to the fact that the smaller the amount of 

 working capital required, the wider is tlio area of competition 

 for farms. 



The suggestion that money should be advanced at a low 

 rate of interest and by the assistance of the State for the equip- 

 ment of small holdings or for the building of cottages is made 

 by several correspondents. The present facilities for obtaining 

 advances under the Lands Improvement and Settled Land Acts 

 are specially mentioned in one instance (by Mr. Squarey), who 

 attributes the improvement of cottage accommodation in rural 

 districts during the last thirty years largely to the use which 

 has been made of those statutes. 



The conditions which conduce to the success of small hold- 

 ings, -as well also as those which lead to their failure, are indi- 

 cated in many of the reports. Instances of failure, both of old- 

 established small holdings and of some which have been re- 

 cently laid out, may be found. An example of the former is 

 given by the late Mr. Punchard, in Westmorland, where hold- 

 ings of 15 to 20 acres were formerly held in connection with 

 village industries. " With the loss of these industries, and 

 therewith the loss of casual employment in the way of carting, 

 &c., the small holder had no opportunity of augmenting his 

 income, whilst the profits from the land itself also dwindled 

 so that they were not sufficient by themselves to maintain the 

 man and his family." Analogous cases may be found where 

 small holdings were originally held by miners in a district 

 where the mines have now ceased to be worked. Such 

 examples would appear to emphasise the necessity, to which 

 frequent reference is made, of insuring, in any attempt to estab- 

 lish small holdings, that the local conditions afford a reasonable 

 change of success. It appears generally that where small 



