196 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



capital has furnished a ground for refusing to 

 entertain an application. The great majority, 

 however, of the refusals were no doubt based 

 on financial reasons. The applicant might be 

 an honest, sober, and industrious man, but 

 if he could not produce evidence of possess- 

 ing capital to the extent, say, of 5 an acre, 

 the County Council would decline to place his 

 name on their list. Nevertheless, the case 

 of poor but deserving applicants was expressly 

 provided for in the Act, which offered facilities 

 and encouragement to County Councils willing 

 to undertake the formation of " Land " and 

 " Credit " Banks. These banks have suc- 

 ceeded admirably on the Continent, and also 

 in Ireland. Yet not a single County Council 

 in England appears to have made any effort 

 to establish such a means of providing the 

 necessary capital for the poor men whose 

 applications have been ruthlessly rejected. 

 It is indeed pitiable that under an Act which 

 was intended to " colonise England " and 

 " lighten the gloom which had settled on so 

 many of our villages," nearly half the appli- 

 cants have been summarily denied any 

 succour, and have been driven back to the 

 " gloom " from which the Act was meant to 

 deliver them ! 



We must have a new and better Act. If 



