CHAPTER XXVII. 

 FREEHOLDINGS THE PEASANT'S LADDER. 



THERE can be no question of the supreme importance 

 of the action of Sir Gilbert Parker and his parliamentary 

 Small Holdings Committee : and, supported as it is by 

 a statesman of the high standing of Mr. Balfour, it is 

 certain to bear fruit at no distant date. 



Although the agricultural labourers are not particularly 

 mentioned in the brochure of Sir Gilbert Parker, there 

 is no doubt of the intention of the promoters of the 

 movement to include them in the beneficial operations 

 of the parliamentary Small Holdings Committee. 



Sir Gilbert Parker explains that their object is to 

 establish land banks " for the purpose of aiding people 

 of small means to acquire land for ownership and not 

 tenancy." He points out that, although in this country 

 we have one million landowners of one kind or another, 

 in France there are five millions of small land proprietors, 

 who are the very backbone of the State. 



The intention to provide a large number of small 

 holdings is undoubtedly an excellent one ; and peasant 

 proprietorship is the end to be attained. The promoters 

 of this movement aim, in fact, at the creation, as we take 

 it, of a new class a class of peasant cultivators who 

 may be able to get a living out of their holdings ; and 

 we also assume that they aim at providing largely for 

 the present state of unemployment existing throughout 



the country, by recruiting the ranks of the new class 



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