PUBLIC LANDS SUGGESTED REFORMS 299 



would be a gradual and, in the end, a very signal 

 alteration in the distribution of the soil. 



The Glebe Land Act has not, he contends, operated 

 to put land within the reach of the small holder, but to 

 add glebes to large adjoining estates. 



The glebe lands still amount to about 650,000 acres, 

 widely distributed. These lands, together with other 

 lands of a similar public character, amount to about 

 2,000,000 acres. Sir Arthur Arnold recommends that 

 the whole of these lands should be placed at the disposal 

 of county councils and other local authorities, or, if found 

 more expedient, administered by a special commission. 

 He would allow the lands to be sold, or let for small 

 holdings, allotments, and similar purposes. 



A Bill (Mortmain Law Amendment) was introduced 

 in 1884 by Lord Randolph Churchill with somewhat 

 analogous objects. 



I wish to support these suggestions most strongly, 

 and also to urge the necessity of amendments to the 

 Allotments Act and the Local Government Act, 1894, 

 removing the restriction of the land provisions of those 

 Acts to the labouring population, and giving a free 

 hand to parish, district, and county councils to acquire 

 and let or sell land to occupying cultivators in whatever 

 way seems most expedient for the wants of each locality. 

 I am also of opinion that the suggestions made in 

 Chapter IX as to the sale of encumbered estates, or 

 estates in bankruptcy, with some right of pre-emption 

 vested in county councils, would operate beneficially if 

 county councils availed themselves of such an opportunity 

 with public spirit, and thus placed additional facilities 

 for acquiring small holdings on reasonable terms within 

 the reach of the rural population. 



Aid should also be given administratively and by the 

 dissemination of information for the purpose of leading 

 to the general adoption in the rural districts of the co- 

 operative credit system or people's banks, which have 

 been of such immense benefit to small holders in Germany 

 and Italy. 



