1908.] Co-operation for Small Holders. 



583 



large society of the district. I cannot refer further this after- 

 noon to this most important question, but I hope I have said 

 enough to cause you to realise how absolutely vital organisation 

 is to the success of your tenants and how necessary it is to 

 encourage it in every possible way. 



" I will now make a few remarks on the subject of land renting 

 associations, which will be as a rule trading bodies as well. 



" When the Small Holdings Act came into operation there 

 was a great rush to form associations, but unfortunately many 

 of them were formed under a misconception of the amount of 

 share capital that would be required. Some of the promoters 

 seemed to imagine that twenty men, for example, had only to 

 form themselves into a registered association, with a capital of 

 say, £50, and to apply to a county council for 200 acres of land, 

 and they were bound to get it. 



" The question of capital has received the careful and serious 

 attention of the Board, who have come to the conclusion that 

 councils are justified in letting land to an association, provided 

 ts nominal share capital, called and uncalled, is equal to three 

 years' rent of the land applied for, it being thought that this 

 amount of share capital, which is a separate and distinct 

 matter from the amount of capital required to farm the land 

 properly, will impose a sufficient liability upon the members 

 of the Association to furnish a guarantee that they will not 

 admit unsuitable persons to membership. When associations 

 are prepared to pay six months' rent in advance, or can provide 

 an outside guarantee, of which the council can approve, that the 

 rent will be paid when it becomes due, a lesser amount of share 

 capital may be considered as being sufficient, but to my mind 

 the first is far and away the best system to adopt, and I am 

 pleased to be able to state that two important societies have 

 been started under it already, one at Mere in Wiltshire, which 

 takes possession of 452 acres of land this Michaelmas, and the 

 other at Biggleswade in Bedford, to which land has been let to 

 the extent of 280 acres, also from this Michaelmas. The im- 

 portance of societies of this kind cannot be overestimated, 

 since their success depends on mutual responsibility, which 

 paves the way to credit banking and other important branches 

 of the co-operative movement. 



"The gain to a county council from letting land to anassocia- 



