SMALL HOLDINGS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 88, 13 April 1912, Page 13

SMALL HOLDINGS

A GREAT SUCCESS IN ENGLAND. Since his appointment to the Presidency of the Board of Agriculture, Mr. Eunciman has been busily occupied in a tour through the rural districts of England. He has come into personal contact with fanners, breeders, land owners, and small holders, and has in this way obtained much valuable information. He hopes shortly to visit Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, and then Wales. The President has been much impressed with the success of the small-holding movement. On. the whole, the type of men on the small holding is excellent. Results, of course, vary, for in small culture individuality is bound to tell. The best results are attained by men who were formerly gardeners, who know how to utilise to advantage every bit of land in their possession, and to get the utmost out of it. La many cases' the small ' holders complain of the practice of the county councils in charging them a rent which includes provision for the sinking fund as well as interest on the loan. The charge often works out at as mucih as 8s an acre. The small holders naturally feel that as the land remians the permanent property of the county council they ought to be relieved of this burden. No such demand is made on the small holders on the Crown estates. The extreme urgency of the rural housing problem has been brought home vividly to the President of the Board of Agriculture by his tour of investigation. The whole question of the provision of rural cottages is now occupying the serious attention of the department. In Ireland the labourers' cottages, built with the aid of moneys loaned by the State, have been signally successful. It will not be surprising if legislation on 6omewhat similar lines should shortly be applied to the rural districts of England and Wales. Much may certainly 'be expected from the energy and enthusiasm with which the new President is throwing himself into the work of -One of the most important departments in. the State. The Government intends to appoint a fioyal Commission to investigate the housing conditions in the rural and urban districts of Scotland.