A NEW DEPARTURE.

Evening Star, Issue 8810, 27 April 1892, Page 1

A NEW DEPARTURE.

In the House of Commons on the 27th February the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Chaplin) introduced a Bill to facilitate the acquirement of small agricultural holdings. Legislation, conceived with the object of rooting the cultivator to the soil and checking the depletion of the rural districts, and the consequent congestion of population in the towns, has been approved in principle by both political parties, and it is not, therefore, surprising that Mr Chaplin’s Bill should have been favorably received. In asking for leave to introduce the Bill, the Minister premised that as the proposals of the Government were an entirely new departure, any legislation must necessarily be of a tentative character, and the Bill was more or less of an experiment, which he thought it was both right and expedient to make. One of the chief objects in view was the wider distribution of the land among the people of Great Britain, and to bring back upon the soil a class of men who had for many years been gradually dwindling away the yeomen or owners of small properties. The constant migration from the country to the towns had been a prominent and unwelcome feature of the rural situation during the last few years. This was bad for the laborers themselves, because they constantly took their labor to an over-supplied market, where they could only obtain employment by reducing the wages of their fellow workmen, or, as frequently happened, could not get employment at all. It was bad for the owners and occupiers of the land it was bad for the land itself, from the want of sufficient labor being employed upon it; and it was bad for the community at large, because it lessened the demand for the produce which the land should be made to bear. The Government thought that one of the measures likely to have some effect—and' probably a considerable effect —would be to offer the rural population greater facilities than they enjoyed at present for working on the land in the interests and for the profit of themselves.

Mr Chaplin proceeded to explain the scheme of the Bill. The State, through the Public Works Commissioners, was empowered to lend at a rate of interest not exceeding 3£ per cent., and the local authorities were empowered, either from the Commissioners or elsewhere, to borrow money in order to acquire land for the purpose of providing small holdings for persons resident in their counties, and who would themselves cultivate the land. It is proposed to limit the borrowing powers to a sum which would involve a charge on the rates not exceeding for any year Id in the £. A “ small holding ” is defined to be “ land which “is suitable for agriculture and ex- “ ceeds one acre, and either does not “ exceed fifty acres or is of an annual “ value not exceeding £50.” A rate of Id in the £ would produce about £10,000,000 in England and Scotland, excluding the county of London and tlie county boroughs. Every County Council would be required to appoint a committee for the purpose of putting the Act in operation, and, on a petition being presented by one or more of the county electors, the Committee are to cause inquiry to be made into the circumstances of the case, and report to the Council. Assuming the report to be favorable, the next step is the acquisition of the land, which must be acquired by purchase at a price not in excess of what the local authority may reasonably expect to receive from it themselves, including expenses, when disposed of again in small holdings. In all instances land is to be acquired by agreement with the owner. Having adapted the land to the purposes of small holdings, the proper authority is to proceed to sell under regulations prescribed in a schedule to the Bill. When a sale is effected, one-fourth of the purchase money must be paid down at once ; another fourth may be secured by a perpetual rent charge, redeemable at will; and the remaining half may be paid by instalments or by a terminable annuity within fifty years ; the purchaser being at liberty to pay off the whole of the debt at any time when he is able and chooses to do so. The local authority is further empowered to let small holdings not exceeding ten acres in area; it being hoped that by this means a laboring man, not in a position to purchase right out, might look forward by the aid of his own industry to the time when he could purchase a small holding for himself. All holdings, whether sold or let, are to be for ten years, and after ten years, until such time as the whole purchase money shall be discharged, held under certain conditions —they must be cultivated, and cannot be sublet or subdivided without the consent of the County Council. Any dwelling-house erected must comply with the sanitary regulations of the Council. There is provision in the Bill that the local authority may erect necessary buildings on a holding where the holder is without means to do this; and the cost thereof is to be added to the purchase money or the capital value on which the rent is calculated. The local authority is further empowered, where the present tenant of a small holding is anxious to purchase the same from his landlord, who might be willing to sell, to lend the tenant three-fourths of the purchase money on the security of the land.

This important measure, of which we have given a brief summary, is a further carrying out of the policy of

the Allotments Act, which, although it has only been a short time in force, has been the means, directly and indirectly, of giving a settled home to thousands and thousands of laboring men who never before knew what it was to have the enjoyment of a bit of land of their own. The “small holding,” however, is a very different thing from the “allotment”; more capital, more skill, and more leisure is demanded for the profitable management. The yeoman requires form buildings, stock, and implements in order to turn his occupancy to account whilst the laborer with Ms allotment needs no costly equipment simply raises his. own vegetables and keeps a pig or two. Mr Chaplin, however, expresses himself confident that equal success will be attained under his new scheme, and it is notable that no objections of any weight have been raised against the financial arrangements proposed. Criticism would seem to have been confined to two points—the voluntary character of the provisions for obtaining land, and the selec-

tion of so large a body as the County Council as the administrative authority. Mr Chaplin meets the first by declaring that it would be absurd to resort to compulsion at a time when the amount of land in the market is increasing every day, and there are more willing sellers than purchasers. The other point is practically disposed of by the Bill itself, which requires the Council to appoint a special committee for this branch of their business ; whilst it has to be borne in mind that the administrative and financial responsibilities under the Bill will be very heavy.