PEASANT PROPRIETORS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13846, 8 March 1907, Page 5

PEASANT PROPRIETORS.

• itMR COLLINGS'S BILL. Press Asaociatioa-By Telesraph-Copjifclit. LONDON, Mareh 7. (Received March 7, at 9.28 p.m.) Mr Jesse Collings's bill to promotepeasant proprietorship has been read a first time in the House of Commons. To provide an opportunity for those who wish to return to the' land" and a- prospect tor those who are anxious to remain there. Mr Callings proposes a system of land purchase with tho assistance of the State Under the Small Holdings Act of 1892 the County Councils have power to purchase land, and resell or let it, in lots not exceeding 50 acres, but the methods have proved so difficult to work (hat some simpler means of acquiring land may bo needed A very considerable area of land suitable lor peasant cultivation comes upon the market every year in the ordinary course of events, and if by some workable scheme a certain proportion of this land could be purchased and resold in small lots tho demand■ would be'satisfied, and to some extent ' schemes savouring- of confiscation arrested. Mr Colliiißs, in epcalcing of the success of the small proprietors on the •WoKliw Farm, Catshill-a farm purchased by the Worcestershire County Council under-the Small Holdings Act—says one man owning less than 30 acres received in a single year £600 for the produce raised on his 'holdings, and during the. same year paid £240 for labour in addition to that of his own family. The small dairyfarmers of Lancashire and Cheshire manage "to produce milk, cheese, pigs, and poultry 1o iho value of £16 or £17, and wheat will bring in from £7 to £9 ah acre. In the face of thcjo figures it may well bo asked (says the Saturday Review) why-England's national production is so low. Tho principal causo is that, there arc 2B million acres of permanent pasture, from which the average annual return does not exceed £2 an acre. A further cause of low production is that a great portion of tho land is held in large tenancies, often poorly farmed ■ with insufficient capital, in nearly every case employing less labour and producing; •much loss food per acre than if Iho same laiid were tilled by a. dozen email holders.