4 The Place of the Small Holder in English Agriculture. 
conditions, prefer to make the most they can of the existing 
machinery, the traditional customs of British agriculture and 
the modes of tenure which already flourish, in order to push 
forward, so far as prudence will allow, small tenancies as 
well as small ownerships, exactly as the varying wants and 
conditions of different parts of the country may prescribe. 
Leaving all details to an examination of the Blue Book 
itself it may suffice here to indicate that the Committee 
attack the problem committed to them on five different lines 
of approach, and propose to call into action three direct and 
two contributory agencies to achieve their end. The direct 
forces which it is suggested should be set in motion are the 
State, the County Councils, and the existing owners of land. 
The State, it is proposed, should act through the Board of 
Agriculture and Fisheries as the particular Government Depart- 
ment created in 1889 for the very purpose of concentrating 
and focussing the administrative functions formerly diffused 
amongst a variety of Commissions and Committees. That 
Board, it is suggested, should be empowered to proceed by 
way of direct experiment in the purchase, equipment, letting, 
and sale of small holdings in suitable localities. The local 
authorities are at the same time offered another chance 
with the aid of large amendments in their existing statute, 
which, with a wise concession to the continuity of English 
legislative work, is to be left to operate wherever it commends 
itself to the ratepayers’ immediate representatives. Lastly, and 
perhaps as an agency more generally and immediately effective 
than any efforts by authorities local or central, it is suggested 
that the landowners of estates on which a larger supply of 
small farms could be usefully created should be helped and 
encouraged to face what the evidence collected shows to be 
the costly process of subdivision and equipment by the aid of 
State loans on favourable terms. The parallel for this proposal, 
which is also that of the last Royal Commission on Agri- 
culture, is to be found half a century ago when the drainage 
and improvement of land was materially and most opportunely 
fostered, without loss to the Exchequer, by the advances of 
Government money which the nation found it profitable to 
make. 
The two indirect forces which the Committee propose to 
call into action to promote the success of their scheme are the 
well-known agencies of organised co-operation and extended 
and improved education. 
Not one of the five proposals for direct or indirect operation 
offers any sensational or revolutionary features. They will be 
generally acknowledged to present a series of sober and prac- 
tical steps towards the end which is aimed at — all of them 
