SMALL HOLDINGS 181 



from him, as must necessarily be the case 

 unless the selection of land by small holdings 

 authorities be strictly confined to farms 

 rendered vacant by surrender or death. 

 Even if the demand for additional land 

 affects only a small fraction of a farmer's 

 acreage, he complains, and sometimes with 

 reason, that the area he is asked to give up 

 is the best portion of his land, the " eye " of 

 his farm. The applicant has, as a rule, a 

 keen appreciation of the difference between 

 good and bad land. He is not going, if he can 

 help it, to be put off with the worst fields, 

 " brashy " gravel-soil, heavy " three-horse " 

 clay, or the coarse turf of marshy land. The 

 only course is one of sweet reasonableness. 

 The farmer must realize that minorities must 

 needs suffer in promoting the common welfare 

 and that individualism is a declining force 

 in the modern world. The small -holder too 

 must submit to reasonable " give and take " 

 in his demands. Parliament has done some- 

 thing to meet the farmer's grievances by 

 granting him compensation for " compulsory 

 acquisitions " and " severance ; " and the 

 conflict of interests between the farmer and 

 the " approved applicant " would have been 

 greatly relieved had the County Council 

 made any serious endeavour to build cheap 



