1909.] Co-operation in Tenure of Small Holdings. 361 



Each member holding land provided by the society is 

 obliged to take twelve shares for every acre of land he holds. 

 The nominal value of the shares is 5s., of which 6d. is paid 

 up, making 6s. paid-up capital on every acre of land. Further 

 calls are limited to is. per share, with three months' interval. 

 It was particularly in the division of the land amongst the 

 applicants that the benefit was felt on both sides in having 

 it carried out by a committee of the society rather than by an 

 agent of the County Council. All the men had local know- 

 ledge of the conditions which required fulfilment, and were, 

 moreover, acquainted with one another's affairs. As each 

 man was in a sense responsible for the rent of his neighbour, 

 judgment was displayed as to the amount of land allotted 

 to each one, having regard to his ability to pay or the 

 likelihood of his cultivating the land in a satisfactory 

 manner. A great spirit of fairness was shown in distributing 

 this insufficient acreage amongst the would-be small holders, 

 a task which it would have been almost impossible for an out- 

 sider not living on the spot to have carried out in such a 

 satisfactory manner. In some cases lots had to be cast; 

 several men withdrew in favour of those who had not yet had 

 a chance of getting on to the land, and it was necessary to 

 cut down the requirements of many to a lower limit. 



The farm in the first instance was valued field by field, the 

 valuer regarding it from the point of view of a single tenant 

 for the whole farm. This value was used as a basis in deter- 

 mining the rent to be charged each man on its accommoda- 

 tion value, viz., according to the convenience of its position 

 to roads or its proximity to the man's residence, &c. The 

 buildings consist of several detached blocks of farm build- 

 ings, a dwelling-house, three cottages, and a dairy-house. 

 The house and one cottage remain in the hands of the former 

 tenant, the other cottages, with land attached, forming three 

 self-contained small holdings. A large barn, a rick yard, 

 and a chaff-cutting house are held collectively ; the cow 

 tyings, stalls, and cart sheds are let out to individual mem- 

 bers at prices ranging from 3s. 6 d. upward per section. Over 

 £100 was laid out in fencing and in alterations of gateways, 

 doors to buildings, &c. The buildings, lying as they do in 

 separate blocks, lent themselves easily to sub-division ; the 



