576 Operation of Small Holdings Act. [oct., 



County Councils for 373,601 acres; that 13,202 applicants 

 have been approved provisionally as suitable; that the esti- 

 mated quantity of land required for the suitable applicants 

 is 185,098 acres; that 21,417 acres have been acquired by 

 County Councils, of which 11,346 acres have been purchased 

 for ^370,965, and 10,071 acres leased for total rents amount- 

 ing to ;£i 1,209 ; tnat the land acquired will provide for about 

 1,500 of the applicants; and that 504 of them were in actual 

 possession of their holdings on December 31st, 1908. 



The progress that has been made in satisfying the keen 

 demand for small holdings which the Act has disclosed may 

 seem small at first sight, but the figures cited above do not 

 give at all an adequate idea of the amount of work that has 

 been actually done, as practically the whole of the first six 

 months of the year were occupied in the preliminary work of 

 constituting committees, issuing forms, receiving and tabu- 

 lating applications, and holding local inquiries, and until 

 this work was completed little progress could be made in the 

 acquisition of land. The rate at which land is being acquired 

 is now increasing rapidly, and the Commissioners anticipated 

 that by Michaelmas, 1909, not less than 50,000 acres would 

 be obtained. In addition to the holdings which have been 

 provided by County Councils, over 700 applicants have been 

 supplied with holdings by landowners direct, mainly through 

 the intervention of the Councils. 



In considering the results already accomplished it must 

 be borne in mind that the problem is to fit particular men 

 to particular land, and not merely to acquire whatever land 

 may be in the market and to offer it in small holdings. The 

 great majority of the applicants desire land in close proximity 

 to their homes, and it is obviously more difficult to acquire 

 a large number of detached plots than to take a whole farm 

 or estate and divide it into a number of small holdings. 



It is also necessary before a Council can finally decide 

 to acquire land under the Act that they shall satisfy them- 

 selves that the applicants are prepared to pay sufficient rents 

 to guard the Council against loss, and this involves careful 

 and detailed negotiation, which necessarily occupies con- 

 siderable time. For these reasons it is safe to say that at 

 least three times as much land as has been actually acquired 



