Legislative Action 149 



other cases either technical agricultural conditions in the particular 

 district, or the personal qualifications (or absence of qualification) of 

 the applicants, make it undesirable to provide such holdings, if not 

 altogether, at any rate immediately. But on the other hand 

 hindrances certainly do occur in numerous instances which are not 

 based on such material or economic circumstances. Since the 

 interests of the landlords, land-agents and large farmers are strongly 

 represented on the County Councils and the Small Holdings 

 Committees appointed by them, while the small men get very little 

 representation, it is unquestionably the case that the dislike of those 

 classes of the community for small holdings may prove a very serious 

 difficulty in the way of the effective administration of the Small 

 Holdings Act. On the other hand the past two years have clearly 

 shown that where a few active and energetic men take up the 

 question, there small holdings rapidly increase. Cambridgeshire, for 

 instance, stands before all other counties for the number of its newly 

 created holdings : a result which is admittedly due to the energy and 

 talent for organisation of the Chairman of the Small Holdings and 

 Allotments Committee, Mr E. O. Fordham^who has entirely devoted 

 himself to the service of the movement. But in general it would 

 certainly seem desirable that the Board of Agriculture should 

 exercise its powers where the County Council refuses to act, and that 

 if these powers are not yet sufficient they should be further enlarged. 

 The Act of 1907 would undoubtedly be in evil case if the central 

 authority should prove negligent. The two first Commissioners, 

 Mr E. J. Cheney and Mr M. T. Baines, have worked hard to increase 

 the number of small holdings. Their reply to the pessimism of 

 certain sceptics or opponents is most encouraging: " It is commonly 

 supposed," they say, "that small holdings can only succeed in 

 certain localities, where the soil is particularly good and where 

 there are special facilities for the profitable marketing of the 

 produce. But as a matter of fact the conditions which make for 

 success are much more widespread than might be at first imagined 2 ." 

 But on the other hand it is a matter of common knowledge that the 

 Board of Agriculture contains very influential men who are naturally 

 prejudiced in favour of the landlords and the large farmers of the 

 older agriculture, and are not merely sceptical about, but actually 

 opposed to, the new movement. These men do not change when the 



1 Report of a Conference as to the Administration of the Small Holdings Act, 1908 

 pp. 6 ff. and 31-33. 



2 Annual Report on Small Holdings ) 1910, p. 18. 



