5(y SMALL HOLDINGS ACT, 1907 



appointed by the Board of Agi-iculture, de- 

 termine if tliere is a local demand. After the 

 preparation of a satisfactory scheme, County 

 Councils are given compulsory powers to 

 acquire such land as shall satisfy the demand, 

 providing the price shall not be so high as to 

 necessitate more than an economic rent being 

 charged. Applicants may either purchase 

 their holdings on the same terms as under the 

 1892 Act, or lease direct from the County 

 Councils. The rent which is asked includes 

 a sinking fund, which recoups the County 

 Council the purchase price of the land and 

 adaptation expenses. The Act has now been 

 in operation for five years, and has certainly 

 been more successful in supplying the demand, 

 some 15,176 applicants having been provided 

 with land, the majority on leasehold terms. 

 A little progress has been made on the ques- 

 tion of organization, in that the principle is 

 admitted. The Board of Agriculture, with 

 the consent of the Treasury, is authorized to 

 make grants to any society which has for its 

 objects the application of co-operation in con- 

 nection with the cultivation of small holdings. 

 Since the Act was put into operation the 



