224 



Official Circulars and Notices. 



[JUNE, 



The Board have issued the following Circular dated 26th May, 

 1908, to County Councils and Councils of County Boroughs in 

 England and Wales : — 



Sir, 



Circular as tO Small 1 am directed b y the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries to say that they are constantly receiving 

 XlOiaingS ACt. inquiries as to the correct interpretation of the words 

 "will themselves cultivate the holdings" which occur 

 in section I of the Small Holdings Act, 1892, and in section 6 of the Small Holdings- 

 and Allotments Act, 1907, and the Board think it desirable therefore that they should 

 state for the information of your Council what in their opinion is the practical effect of 

 the words quoted. The question is one of considerable importance in view of the fact 

 that if the words are construed in too narrow a spirit the effect might be to exclude 

 from the benefits of the Acts a considerable number of applicants who desire to obtain 

 land to be used as an adjunct to their present employment, and to limit the operation 

 of the Acts to the provision of self-supporting small holdings the cultivation of which 

 would occupy the whole time and attention of the holder. 



Sections I and 9 (1) (c) of the Act of 1892, and section 6 (1) of the Act of 1907, 

 which limit the sale or letting of small holdings to persons who will themselves cultivate 

 the holdings and require that the holding shall be cultivated by the owner or occupier , 

 should be read with section 7 of the Act of 1892 which requires the Council to make 

 rules for guarding against any small holding being let or sold to a person who is unable 

 lo cultivate it properly, and the object of these provisions taken together appears to be 

 to secure that the small holder shall not only possess the skill and ability necessary to 

 cultivate the particular holding, but shall also personally apply such skill and ability 

 to the cultivation of the holding. This interpretation would not exclude the use of 

 hired labour to assist in the cultivation of the holding or the employment by the small 

 holder of the members of his own family. It also permits of a different standard of 

 skill and ability being adopted in accordance with the nature of the cultivation that is 

 required for the particular holding or kind of holding applied for, which may vary 

 between an arable farm of 50 acres under special cultivation and a meadow of little 

 more than an acre. In this connection I am to point out that section 20 of the Act of 

 1892 defines the words " agriculture " and "cultivation" to include horticulture and 

 the use of land for any purposes of husbandry, inclusive of the keeping or breeding of 

 live stock, poultry, or bees, and the growth of fruit, vegetables and the like. 



The Board are of opinion, therefore, that there is nothing in the Acts which would 

 prevent a Council from providing holdings for those applicants who, while already 

 engaged in some occupation, have sufficient spare time to be able to cultivate success- 

 fully a small holding. The experience of the past in many parts of the country shows 

 that such men often succeed well as small holders, and the acquisition by them of small 

 quantities of land as an adjunct to their present occupation frequently makes just the 

 difference between bare subsistence and comparative prosperity. It is for this reason 

 that many of the most successful small holdings in the country are to be found in 

 districts where the surrounding agricultural conditions afford piece work of va.iious 

 kinds, or where there are in the neighbourhood mines or other industries which do not 

 occupy the whole time of the workers. 



The Board think, therefore, that as a general rule a Council would not be justified 

 in declining to accept applications from men who desire to obtain small holdings as an 

 adjunct to their present occupation or in giving such applications a secondary place in 

 their consideration as compared with those of men who propose to make their whole 

 living off their holdings. 



I am, &c, 



T. H. Elliott, Secretary. 



