1908.] Formation of Small Holdings. 



283 



become land renting societies under local authorities, and so 

 widen considerably their sphere of usefulness. Accordingly 

 the Board have been in correspondence with the Agricultural 

 Organisation Society and the Co-operative Union in the belief 

 that the far-reaching organisation of these bodies forms the 

 best channel by which practical effect may be given to the 

 special provisions of the Act to which reference has been made. 



The Agricultural Organisation Society of Dacre House, 

 Dacre Street, Westminster, S.W., has hitherto done useful 

 work in promoting the formation of local agricultural trading 

 societies on co-operative lines, and under its j auspices such 

 societies have been established in various parts of the country 

 for the purpose of enabling farmers to purchase their require- 

 ments and to sell their produce by organised co-operative 

 methods. By arrangement with the society the two special 

 rules drawn up by the Board have been incorporated in the 

 Model Rules which the Society issues for the guidance of those 

 desiring to form a local society of the nature indicated. A 

 society formed on the basis of these rules will therefore not 

 only qualify as the tenant of land under a local authority, 

 but will at the same time be in a position to offer its members 

 the advantages to be obtained from co-operative methods of 

 business. 



In the case of the Co-operative Union and industrial co- 

 operative societies generally still greater benefits may be 

 expected to result from the use of the powers given by the 

 Act. These societies already possess the machinery to enable 

 them to handle large quantities of agricultural and market- 

 garden produce, and nourishing as they do chiefly in the 

 large centres of industrial population they can provide a 

 ready market for such produce. 



The fact that some of the industrial societies have acquired 

 by their own efforts, and already manage successfully, con- 

 siderable areas of land is a good augury for the successful 

 development of the agricultural side of the co-operative 

 movement. It is therefore a matter of satisfaction that the 

 negotiations between the Board and the Co-operative Union 

 have resulted in an active movement on the part of the latter, 

 body to encourage industrial co-operative societies to avail 

 themselves of the opportunities given by the Act. 



