Legislative Action 129 



agriculturists can afford to pay for it when cut up into areas of 5 to 

 50 acres. In particular, the landowner hopes, by selling a com- 

 paratively large extent of land to some wealthy man, fond of sport 

 and not particular about making a profit on the estate, to get for 

 those parts of the land which are of little value for agricultural 

 purposes a price which it will indeed be worth the while of such a 

 purchaser to pay, from his point of view, but which no mere agri- 

 culturist could afford. When the Small Holdings Bill of 1892 was 

 before Parliament, a member of an eminent firm of land-agents wrote 

 a letter to the Press, quoted by Mr Shaw Lefevre 1 , in which he 

 stated: "My firm has on its books for sale a considerable number 

 " of landed properties of from 1,000 to 10,000 acres or more. In most 

 " of them the land lies together, and many of them consist of a whole 

 " parish, or of two or three adjoining parishes. It cannot be expected 

 " that in these cases the vendors will be willing to sell to local 

 "authorities 50 or 100 acres... for the purpose of creating a number 



"of small freeholders or leaseholders The entirety of a property 



" within its boundaries is a great attraction to purchasers. The 

 " planting of a number of small freeholders in the midst of it might 

 " greatly interfere with the amenities of the estate, as they are generally 

 " understood, and with the sporting rights over the same. We have 

 " many other smaller properties for sale, of 100 to 1000 acres. Most 

 " of these are of a residential character, where we could not advise 

 " vendors to sell off part for the creation of small ownerships." It was 

 therefore no wonder that in a report on the Act of 1892, published in 

 1895, the complaint was made that the County Councils were hardly 

 anywhere in a position to obtain land. Either it was not to be had 

 at all, or not upon reasonable terms. On the other hand it was a 

 perfectly justifiable provision of the Act that land should not be 

 bought unless the price was such that it could be repaid by the small 

 agriculturist who was to be the ultimate purchaser (cf. Section 18(1)). 

 The County Council was consequently obliged to avoid paying more 

 for the land than its capitalised annual value. But in the result it was 

 often impossible to purchase at all. Thus in one Lincolnshire parish 

 containing 21,133 acres, only 146 acres were available for the purposes 

 of the Act. 



It was on the ground of this experience that a demand for 

 compulsory purchase began to be heard on all sides. When in 1892 

 the Small Holdings Bill of that year was under discussion in and 

 outside Parliament, there was no possibility of carrying such a clause, 



1 Shaw Lefevre, op. cit. p. 268. 

 L. 9 



