SMALL HOLDINGS 15 



(5) The occupation and improvement of 

 uncultivated, abandoned, and derelict land. 



(6) It will contribute to a much larger 

 extent to our ability to feed ourselves as a 

 nation. So long as manure is obtainable, 

 there is scarcely a limit to the capacity 

 of a skilled man to produce food of many 

 kinds. 



(7) it will diminish the rates and taxes 

 payable in rural districts by reducing the 

 number of paupers and unemployed, and 

 consequently the poor rate. 



The motor has brought our villages 

 nearer to the towns and the railways, 

 and to each other, and it will, in our 

 judgment, play an important part in the 

 establishment of Small Holding colonies 

 and garden villages. Experience thus far 

 has shown that there are thousands of 

 country-bred townsmen who are anxious 

 to change their occupation for rural life, 

 although it is probable that not more than 

 ten per cent, have the means or capacity 

 to make a start on the purchase system. 

 Of the 1200 applications for land which 

 were made to the writer in 1903, a small 

 proportion consisted of those impossible 

 persons, shopkeepers' assistants and clerks. 



