1908.] 



Official Circulars and Notices. 



547 



. Terms of Sale of Small Holdings. — Land which has been purchased by agreement 

 may be sold by a Council on the following terms : — 



(I) At least one-fifth of the agreed purchase money must be paid down upon 

 completion of the purchase. 

 (II) A sum not exceeding one-fourth of the purchase money may, if the Council 

 think fit, remain a perpetual charge upon the holding, i.e., the purchaser 

 will pay an annual sum representing the interest on that portion of the 

 purchase money. 



(Ill) The balance of the purchase money, with interest, must be paid to the 

 Council in half-yearly instalments spread over a period not exceeding fifty 

 years. In certain cases the repayment of instalments may be postponed for 

 five years. 



Every smallholding sold by a Council will remain subject to certain conditions for 

 twenty years from the date of the sate, and thereafter so long as any part of the pur- 

 chase money remains unpaid. The main object of the conditions is to ensure that 

 the holding will not be diverted from the purpose of agriculture. Upon a breach of 

 the conditions the Council may resume possession of the holding. 



Power to Let to Associations. — With the consent of the Board a Council may let 

 land for Small Holdings to associations formed for the purpose of creating or pro- 

 moting the creation of small holdings, and so constituted that the division of profits 

 among the members of the association is prohibited or restricted. The Board have 

 drawn up rules which they will require every such association to adopt, if it desires to 

 rent land from the County Council for small holdings, and copies of these rules and 

 other information as to the formation of associations may be obtained from the 

 Secretary of the Agricultural Organisation Society, Dacre House, Dacre Street, 

 London, S.W. 



There are obvious advantages from the point of view of the County Council in 

 letting land to such associations or societies, who can undertake the whole responsi- 

 bility of dividing the land, selecting the tenants, managing the holdings and collecting 

 the rents, while the tenants will be in a very favourable position for the organisation 

 of a system of co-operative purchase of their requirements and disposal of their 

 produce. 



Assistance lo Co-operative Societies and Credit Banks. — County Councils are 

 empowered by Section 39 of the Act of 1907, to encourage and assist credit banks and 

 other co-operative societies which have as their object, or one of their objects, the 

 provision or the profitable working of small holdings or allotments, and they may, 

 with the sanction of the Local Government Board, give grants, and guarantee or make 

 advances to such societies. They may also appoint a central co-operative society such 

 as the Agricultural Organisation Society, to be their agents for the purpose of pro- 

 moting co-operation among the small holders in their county, and may make it the 

 medium through which any financial assistance they propose to give should be dis- 

 pensed to the local societies. 



Loans to Sitting Tenants. — If the tenant of a small holding agrees with his land- 

 lord for the purchase of the holding, the County Council may, if they are satisfied that 

 the title to the holding is good, -that the sale is made in good faith and that the price 

 is reasonable, advance to the tenant an amount not exceeding four-fifths of the purchase 

 money. The tenant then becomes subject to the same conditions as are imposed in 

 the case of a small holding provided and sold by the Council, and the terms as to 

 repayment of the advance are the same as in that case. 



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