THE FUTURE OF ALLOTMENTS. 
385 
is shown to the satisfaction of the Board that the land is required 
before that date for building or other public purposes. If it should be 
necessary to dispossess any allotment -holders for such purposes they 
will be compensated by the Board for the value at the time of quitting 
of the crops growing on the land and the labour expended upon 
and manure applied to the land since the taking of the last crop in 
anticipation of the future crop. 
" With regard to the position of permanent allotments after the 
war, I am to state that the Government recognise fully the social and 
moral advantages of the allotment movement, and that it is their 
desire to take any necessary steps to establish it formally as a 
permanent feature of our national life. It is not practicable, however, 
to introduce further legislation on this question this session, but in 
the meantime the legislation already introduced will safeguard the 
position of the present allotment-holders, and will renew the power 
of the Board and the local authorities to acquire more land during the 
continuance of the war." 
This, to the allotment-holder, is a very strong point, and in con- 
nexion with this some extracts from a letter sent to one of the daily 
papers are worth quoting, viz. : — 
" Allotment-holders are to be given security of tenure of their 
allotments until the autumn of 1920. 
" Those who desire it ought to be given security of tenure for the 
rest of their lives, conditional on their allotments being tilled by them- 
selves or resident members of their families. 
" The national exchequer would, of course, have to buy out the 
landlords at an equitable price. Is this too big a proposition when 
millions of pounds are spent for far less valuable purposes than in- 
tensive cultivation of British soil ? 
" Public playgrounds are sacred, but food production has become 
more sacred. The difficulty as regards allotments situated on valuable 
building sites could be solved by grants of other allotments of equal 
size within the same radius of holders' homes. 
" The patriotic allotment-holders have converted wastes into oases 
and barren lands into rich kitchen gardens. They have immeasurably 
helped out the anxious food problem. Every one of them is a lesser 
Rhondda or Hoover. 
" And their love of their patches of ground has become that passion 
of the gardener that exceeds the devotion to any other work or hobby. 
One cannot think of a day when all the allotment-holders will be told, 
' You must surrender now.' One cannot imagine a gardener leaving 
his garden for ever on the striking of a clock. If we do not give the 
allotment-holders their allotments we ought to keep mobilized at least 
an army corps of official ejectors for that day." 
This, I think, expresses the general feeling of the allotment -holder 
throughout the country, and for the needs of the food supply for some 
years to come there will be an urgent call for greatly increased pro- 
duction, as in the event of a blockade of our coast-line we should find 
