VALUE OF SMALL HOLDINGS 53 



ally render the occupier the owner of his holding. 

 Certain progress has already been made in this direc- 

 tion under the Small Holdings Acts ; in many parts of 

 the country there was, prior to the war, a considerable 

 demand for land, and it is generally held that this 

 demand will be increased when the troops are demobi- 

 lized, and that the extension of the process of setting 

 up such small holdings will go far to bring about an 

 intensification of British agriculture. The question of 

 leasehold or ultimate ownership does not appear to 

 weigh much with the actual small holder, provided he 

 is assured of security of tenure. He is mainly concerned 

 with getting as low a rent as possible and wants to 

 have the whole of his available capital free for his 

 business. Various arguments of a political nature may 

 be urged for and against ownership. Experience would 

 seem to show that the small owner is always tempted to 

 mortgage his land, and that when a cycle of bad times 

 occurs the small holdings get sold and thrown together. 

 The advantages of a small-holding system are perhaps 

 more social than agricultural : 



(1) They meet the requirements of men of a certain 

 type with a considerable strain of independence and 

 self-reliance in their temperament, who perhaps work 

 badly or irregularly under orders. 



(2) They provide a starting point for agricultural 

 workers who begin at the bottom, but have the capa- 

 city for rising. 



(3) They call out great reserves of hard work and 

 ingenuity in their occupiers, and so give rise to a class 

 of men of value to the State because of their capacity 

 for continuous labour and their independence. Their 



