Legislative Action 147 



of the national economy, regarding its claims as more pressing than 

 those of special interests or party dogma. 



(b) Tlie working of the Act of 1907. 



Such being the provisions, and such the aims, of the Act of 1907, 

 the question naturally arises as to the degree in which it has so far 

 justified its existence. It is however obviously difficult to give a 

 satisfactory answer, in view of the short time for which the Act has 

 as yet been in operation, viz. only since January I, 1908. In the two 

 years 1908 and 1909, 60,889 acres were acquired by the County 

 Councils for the purposes of the Act, of which 34,234 were purchased 

 and 26,655 were taken on lease 1 . As compared with the results of 

 earlier legislation these figures appear very satisfactory and full of 

 promise for the future. It is true that up to the end of the year 1909 

 the whole of the area had not yet been apportioned to small 

 cultivators. The actual process of home colonisation takes place 

 slowly, and in many cases the figures given above represent contracts, 

 either of sale or lease, which did not come into force till after 1909. 

 But it is certainly a remarkable fact that by December 31, 1909, 2793 

 small holdings had been created by the County Councils, representing 

 an area of 36,845 acres. Only 28 acres had been acquired by their 

 occupiers by way of purchase 2 . 



The provision for expropriation contained in the new Act has 

 also been used to a considerable extent. Altogether 169 Compulsory 

 Orders have been laid before the Board of Agriculture in the first two 

 years of the Act's existence ; 59 of these have been " for the com- 

 pulsory purchase of 7676 acres," and no "for the compulsory hiring 

 of 4670 acres." By the end of 1909, 79 of these Orders had received 

 the sanction of the Board. A still more important point is that in 

 the case of compulsory hiring the Board, through its employment of 

 an arbitrator or valuer, has obtained land at a considerably lower price 

 than had originally been asked for it. In one case land for which 

 the vendor had demanded 28,967 was compulsorily acquired for 

 23,485. In another, about 48 rent had been demanded for a 

 farm of some 19 acres, and this was reduced by the valuer to 34*. 

 On the other hand the County Council concerned had in almost all 

 such cases to pay more than it had originally offered. As a rule the 



1 Annual Report on Small Holdings, Pt. I, 1910 (Cd. 5180), p. 5. 



2 Ibid., p. 6. 3 Ibid., pp. 7-8. 



IO 2 



