1905.] The Northern Allotment Society. 205 



extension of business in various directions. In effect, although 

 not in name, the object of the Society has thus been broadened 

 out, but it cannot be said that its original programme has 

 suffered in consequence. On the contrary, the combination 

 has been of mutual advantage. The horticultural member has 

 preserved the same status and opportunities — indeed, his oppor- 

 tunities have substantially improved under the reinforcement. 

 But for the residential and investing purchasers not one of the 

 estates purchased under the auspices of the Society could at the 

 time have been acquired ; with their aid it became possible for 

 the horticultural member to participate in an enterprise which 

 otherwise he was too weak to handle. 



In a district relying upon fruit and flower growing and market 

 gardening as its staple occupation this condition need not apply, 

 but Newcastle-upon-Tyne is not in that category, and the 

 number of men in and about the town who are endowed with 

 the requisite skill, experience and capital for embarking success- 

 fully in this line of business as a means of livelihood is strictly 

 limited. The demand for their produce is, however, very sub- 

 stantial, not to say enormous, and therefore the Society has 

 been, and to a greater extent should continue to be, a useful 

 factor in planting men of this class upon their own freehold, 

 under the best practicable conditions. On the other hand, the 

 investing member has found that his residential and horticul- 

 tural colleagues have become the nucleus of a new colony, 

 and that their immediate occupation of the land has had a 

 wholesome effect upon his investments. The blending of these 

 various interests has, furthermore, brought into the community 

 a wider intelligence, which has been of great practical value, 

 a higher taste, and better methods of, and facilities for, trans- 

 acting business. 



Whether a given estate was to be owned collectively or 

 allotted amongst the purchasers was determined by the pur- 

 chasers themselves, if need be, by a vote of the majority, with 

 the result already stated, that seven have been treated in the 

 one way and seven in the other. 



The proprietary estates have, with one exception, been owned 

 by limited liability companies, due primarily to the fact 

 that the purchasers in each case numbered more than 



