92 LAND SETTLEMENT & EDUCATION 



cultivates his land slovenly, or even not quite up to 

 the prevailing standard, and leaves his buildings in 

 a bad state of repair, (c) The visits of the agri- 

 cultural organising instructors, 



(2) They say that if small holdings were created 

 in a given district there would be no means of pre- 

 venting the small owners from selling out and the 

 land being absorbed once more by the large farm. 



But the actual facts are — and there are many 

 examples of this to be found all over England — 

 that the very reverse is the case : for where once 

 small holdings are established in any considerable 

 number that area becomes a small-holdings area and 

 not merely remains so, but continually encroaches 

 upon the adjoining land. Perhaps the best example 

 is the Evesham district, where the market gardens 

 have extended far beyond the original valley. 



Further, I should think that in the case of small 

 holdings created by the Government it would be 

 perfectly simple to stipulate that the small holder 

 must obtain permission from the Board of Agri- 

 culture before he would be at liberty to sell. This 

 businesslike regulation is in force in several countries 

 and in practice creates apparently no hardship 

 whatever. 



(3) The Report says that small holdings rarely 

 descend from father to son. That is true in Great 

 Britain, but not in other countries. The reason is 

 not hard to find : the English small farmer has been 

 denied access to capital. If he must borrow he has 

 to resort to mortgage. In other countries he can 

 borrow from his Credit Bank or Society and repay his 

 loan by easy instalments. Further, up to now, owing 

 to bad marketing conditions, want of co-operation 

 and organisation, our small holders have never been 



