124 Changes in the Number of Small Holdings, [may, 
of larger holdings, partly by reason of the fact that small 
holdings tend to cluster around towns, and are therefore more 
immediately within the sphere of urban encroachment, and 
partly because the absorption of an equal area may involve 
numerous small holdings, or only one large holding. It is 
clear, therefore, that the creation of a very considerable 
number of new small holdings must be represented when the 
balance of gains and losses in this class shows a net addition 
in two years of 1,626. 
As the number of small holdings provided under the Act 
in 1908 and 1909, according to the particulars furnished to the 
Board by the local authorities, w T as 4,443, it seemed desirable 
to ascertain whether the net increase in this class of holdings, 
as shown in these returns, fully represented the results of the 
movement known to have taken place. Special inquiries were 
accordingly made in certain counties where the returns 
appeared to be somewhat inconsistent, and a considerable 
amount of detailed information was obtained. It was found, 
as was anticipated, that in many cases the creation of small 
holdings in one district was accompanied by their absorption 
in another district. This absorption was mainly for building 
purposes, but in some cases the few acres of the small holder 
w T ere taken into a larger farm. The ambition and success 
of the small holder himself was found to be the cause in some 
instances of the disappearance of an adjoining holding, which 
at the first opportunity he had acquired, so as to increase his 
own occupation, while still remaining a small holder. Of 
those provided with holdings under the Act a considerable 
proportion had previously occupied small parcels of land 
which, if above an acre, would have been reckoned as small 
holdings. In fact, the replacement on the land of small 
holders displaced by the process of absorption already referred 
to is evidently one of the satisfactory results achieved under 
the Act. In one county, out of 194 small holdings provided, 
123 were taken by persons who had previously occupied land. 
In another county, in the same year in which 59 small 
holdings were provided under the Act, 12 small holdings, 
comprising in the aggregate 27 acres, were consolidated into 
one small holding. Again, near a large town it was found 
that a number of holdings above one acre but less than 50 
