PEBLTMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 15 



has seen fit to detail them at length in a recent article. 

 Here are the facts as summarised in The Smallholder. 



At the beginning of the year the Local Council 

 appointed an Allotment Committee, which was given 

 full power to act. This Committee immediately 



(1) secured stocks of implements in order to forestall 

 attempts to raise prices or any failure to obtain 

 supplies ; (2) obtained firm offers of seed and accepted 

 quotations ; (3) organised manure supplies ; (4) ar- 

 ranged for bringing-on under glass (in consequence of 

 the late start) large quantities of plants for spring 

 planting ; (5) prepared schemes which were laid before 

 the inhabitants. 



The Committee then turned its attention to effecting 

 the fullest possible increase in the number of allotments 

 in the town. To every man or woman who desired one 

 an allotment was offered, with the result that in three 

 months' time about 2,500 allotments were under 

 cultivation within the Borough. 



The principles on which the Committee worked were 

 as follows : (1) It selected and tested all land in order 

 to ensure reasonable returns for the labour spent on it. 



(2) An economic rent was charged so that serious 

 cultivation might be safeguarded. (3) A water supply 

 was provided. (4) Professional advice was available 

 for those who needed it. (5) And the work of each 

 plot-holder was periodically inspected in order that the 

 best interests of the community might be preserved. 



The Committee took up in other ways the work 

 of food production. Schemes for school gardens, to be 

 used for food production, were prepared and approved 

 by the Boarl of Education. The land was provided by 



