I 9°5-] The Northern Allotment Society. 207 



buyer had the benefit of his guidance. Failing a mutual agree- 

 ment under which the allottees appropriated the several lots, 

 without overlapping, at the valuer's figures, the lots were put up 

 to auction amongst the allottees, and knocked down to the 

 highest bidders. No bid was valid below the value fixed by 

 the valuer, so that the total amount required was assured, whilst 

 any premiums paid at the auction went into the common fund. 

 If, after the whole of the collective work had been discharged, 

 any surplus remained, it was returned as a bonus to the allot- 

 tees according to the cost price of their property. Conversely, 

 if any deficit was incurred, it was levied upon the same basis. 



A bidder having more than one acre had the option of taking 

 the adjoining lots, on terms, so that he could obtain all his 

 land in one parcel. In examining the provisions of the 

 earlier deeds it is to be borne in mind that the parties to them 

 were, at the outset, pioneers, that no undertaking of a similar 

 character was known to them, nor had they the benefit of any 

 special training or knowledge of estate management. The 

 lessons of experience are to be found in the later documents, 

 notably in the provision of wider and better roads, uniform 

 fencing, more careful control over the character of the dwelling- 

 houses erected, and a more stringent regulation of the uses to 

 which the land might be put. 



Room for improvement no doubt exists. A hostile critic 

 looking at these new villages as they stand to-day can readily 

 espy something amiss, in his opinion ; he would have put 

 down a superior house or road, have cultivated the land better, 

 have planted more trees and hedgerows, have preserved the 

 estate from this or that eyesore. No one is more alive to the 

 defects in development than those most concerned, but if any 

 defence is needed, it is to be said that they tried to make the 

 best of their opportunities with the resources at their com- 

 mand. A group of idealists with unlimited cash at their 

 disposal might have done better, or they might not ; but the 

 idealists in this case have been yoked together with hard 

 utilitarians, and the outcome may be taken as the best available 

 compromise. 



It may be added that thirty-four members of the Society 

 recently offered to purchase an estate of 633 acres near New 



