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purpose of small holdings. This is not a large result from an Act which has been in existence ten years, but it is sufficient to show what can be done under it, and that it is a workable measure. It will also be found, on examination, that it has been successful in the places where men of the non-territorial class have been on the Councils, men free from prejudice and who, from social and political considerations, have taken a wide view of the question.

This was the case in Worcestershire, where the County Council have put the Act in force with unqualified success. Mr. Willis Bund (barrister-at-law), Chairman of the County Council, took the wise and public-spirited view that as Parliament had placed the administration of the Act in the hands of local authorities, it was the bounden duty of those authorities to carry it out to the best of their ability; and there is no doubt that his view had great influence with the Council. It was two members of the Council-Mr. E. J. Bigwood and Mr. Frank Smith, both members of firms of estate agents and auctioneers in Birmingham --who suggested and pushed forward the purchase of the land for the purpose of small holdings.'

It may safely be said, therefore, that but for the presence of this class of men on the County Council, the experiment of creating a peasant proprietary in Worcestershire-if tried at all-would not have been carried out with the same vigour and-what is allimportant-with the same personal belief in the principle it contained.

1 See "County Council Times," December, 1904. Mr. Frank Smith is chairman of the Small Holdings Committee of the County Council, and was for many years hon. secretary of the Rural Labourers' League, the object of which is to promote all measures for the improvement of rural life.

There can be no doubt that an Act which has been so successful in one county could, if the same means and the same spirit were adopted, be carried out with equal success in other counties.

Some particulars of this small colony of peasant proprietors are worthy of being noticed.1

On the passing of the Small Holdings Act of 1892 the Worcester County Council-mainly through the influence of the members of the Council referred to— bought the "Woodrow Farm," which is close to the village of Catshill, in the parish of North Bromsgrove, and about twelve miles from Birmingham. The farm contains about 146 acres, and the purchase-price was £33 per acre, including the timber. The Council divided the land into thirty-two small holdings, ranging in size from just over three acres to about nine. The expense of dividing the land by fences, etc., amounting to £287, was duly apportioned among the holdings. There were numerous applicants for the plots, and the Small Holdings Committee of the Council were enabled to select suitable men. Some of the applicants were men who had left the locality through want of employment, but desired to come back when there was a prospect of getting land to cultivate. The selling price of each holding was settled, and the purchaser was required to pay down one-fifth of the amount. The sale was then completed, and the purchaser became the registered freeholder of the land, subject to the payment of an annual instalment for a certain number of years.

1 The present writer is indebted to the courtesy of Mr. S. Thornely, Clerk to the County Council, for photographs, together with the information respecting the financial business arrangements connected with the undertaking. Other particulars given are the result of repeated visits to the colony, and of personal knowledge of the men.

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It was found that some of the men, though very suitable for the work, were not able to pay down the required one-fifth of the purchase-money. To meet these cases the Small Holdings Committee very wisely allowed an extension of time-two or three years-during which the fifth had to be paid. When it was paid the purchase was completed and the land legally transferred.

The terms of repayment are based on a 4 per cent rate of interest, and the instalments, to be collected half-yearly, are fixed at such an amount, including interest and sinking fund, as will pay back the whole of the money advanced by the County Council in forty years.

Though the village of Catshill is hard by, it was found that cottages on the estate were in many cases necessary for the comfort of the men and their families. But in the Act there are difficulties in the way of providing cottages.' But the Committee overcame these difficulties, and the County Council finally decided not to build themselves, but to advance threefourths of the cost of a cottage and outbuildings, provided that the remaining fourth were paid by the holder and that the plans were approved by the county surveyor and the medical officer of health.

The amount of the instalments, interest (4 per cent), and sinking fund, is so calculated that the advances for the cottages-regardless of the time they were built-shall be all repaid at the same date as the repayments for the land are completed. Up to the present time nine cottages have been built, which,

By an amending Bill now before Parliament-if passed-the above difficulties would be removed. Local authorities would be able, if they thought fit, to advance to suitable men the whole of the purchase-money.

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