Legislative Action 127 



existed throughout the country, and that any practicable method 

 of facilitating their revival would be more than ever welcome from an 

 economic point of view 1 . If no explanation of the failure of the Act 

 of 1892 is to be found in this direction, then the next possibility which 

 will suggest itself will be that the disappointing result was due to some 

 inadequacy in the administration of the Act. The Report of 1906 

 pointed to this as a possibility; and undoubtedly with justification. 

 Sometimes special reasons would lead a County Council to leave the 

 Act unused. In one county, where no less than 349 petitions were 

 received, "it was decided that as 'the rate-payers were already burdened 

 with heavy taxation it was unfair to impose upon them the extra cost 

 of carrying out the Act, an experiment which ought to be borne by 

 the State 2 .'" In many cases it was difficult to gauge the strength of 

 the demand for small holdings. Many of those who were quite likely 

 to desire them remained ignorant of the existence of the Act. In 

 Worcestershire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire the application of the Act 

 was traceable to the initiative of certain enthusiastic members of the 

 County Council, and their action was fully justified. The Report of 

 1906, which was in favour of leaving the main principles of the law 

 unchanged, laid special emphasis on these cases, as showing that the 

 difficulties were only difficulties of administration. It proposed that 

 a Central Board should share the administrative powers with the local 

 authorities, a proposal which was incorporated in the Bill ultimately 

 introduced, and now appears as the first part of the new Act (sections 



i-5). 



According to these sections, the Board of Agriculture is to act as 

 central authority for this purpose. It appoints certain Small Holdings 

 Commissioners, i.e. officials who are to seek to ascertain what demand 

 there is for small holdings in the various counties and how far it 

 appears practicable and desirable to satisfy this demand. It is an 

 important point that not merely the County Councils, but also the 

 smaller bodies, the District and Parish Councils, are able to supply 

 the Commissioners with materials on which to form their judgment, 

 so that the County Councils, which have so often shown themselves 

 disinclined to take the matter up, are no longer the sole judges of the 

 questions at issue. If the Board of Agriculture considers that the 

 creation of small holdings in a certain district is desirable and 



1 Small Holdings Report, 1906, Minutes^ pp. 444 and 445 of the index. Cp. also the 

 instructive book by Miss Jebb (now Mrs Wilkins) on The Small Holdings of England, 1907, 

 passim. 



2 Small Holdings Report^ 1906, p. n, 46. 



