igo6.] Decline in Agricultural Population. 535 



agricultural labourer offers little scope for ambition. If he is 

 intelligent and quick-witted he may practically have become a 

 master of his craft by the time he is twenty-one, but after rising 

 to the position of horse-keeper or shepherd, or perhaps foreman, 

 there is little further outlook and small hope of increased wages. 

 It is not surprising that in many cases he declines to settle down 

 for life in a calling which does- not in the ordinary coarse 

 provide possibilities of advancement to an independent position. 



Desire for Land. — i\dvancement to the man who lives by the 

 land means in the end the occupation or the ownership of land 

 for himself, and the presence or absence of a reasonable prospect 

 of attaining this goal must no doubt affect the willingness of 

 young and enterprising men to persevere in farm work. The 

 recognition of this fact led the Board to make specific enquiry 

 as to the existence of difficulty in obtaining land for allotments 

 and small holdings. 



Allotments. — So far as allotments are concerned, there is a 

 very general consensus of opinion that requirements are as a rule 

 well satisfied. In not more than some half a dozen counties — 

 differing as widely as Hertfordshire, the East Riding, Denbigh 

 and Caithness — is a scarcity of available allotments mentioned, 

 From the large majority of counties, it is reported that there is 

 no difficulty in obtaining all the allotments wanted, while in 

 many cases it is stated that the demand for them is less than it 

 used to be and that frequently they have been given up by 

 labourers who at one time held them. The opinion is expressed 

 by several correspondents that the attachment of a good garden 

 to a labourer's cottage is more desirable and more highly 

 appreciated by the labourer than an allotment which may be at 

 some distance from his home. The provision of an adequate 

 amount of garden ground attached to every labourer's cottage is 

 advocated by many correspondents. 



Small Holdings. — The term " small holding " receives a 

 different interpretation in different districts. In some instances 

 it is used almost as if it were synonymous with an allotment or 

 with occupations of not more than half a dozen acres. In other 

 cases it is extended so as to include what in many parts of the 

 country would be considered large farms. . 



The definition of a small holding which is generally accepted, 



