ALLOTMENTS
AND
Pembrokeshire under the Act.” No evidence whatever was adduced to show that in a single district a different state of things had to be recorded. From a return presented by the Local Government Board to Parliament in 1896 we learn that eighty-three rural sanitary authorities had acquired land for allotment prior to the 28th December 1894, the date at which these authorities ceased to exist under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1894. Land was acquired by compulsory purchase in only one parish; by purchase or agreement in eighteen parishes; by hire by agreement in 132 parishes. The total acreage dealt with was 1836 acres 1 rood 34 poles, and the total number of tenants 4711. The number of County Councils that up to the same date had acquired land was twelve, and they had done so by compulsory purchase in one parish, by purchase or agreement in five parishes, by hire by agreement in twenty-four parishes. The total area dealt with was only 413 acres 1 rood 5 poles, and the total number of tenants 825. The complete totals affected at the date of the return, 21st August 1895, by the Acts, therefore, were 2249 acres 2 roods 39 poles, and 5536 tenants. A considerable extension has taken place since, but before dealing with that point a word should be said of a measure closely akin to the allotments legislation—viz., the Small Holdings Act introduced by Mr Henry Chaplin, and passed by Parliament in 1892. It was an attempt to appease the rural discontent that had been seething for some time past and was silently but most eloquently expressed in a steady migration from the villages. The object of this measure was to help the deserving labouring man to acquire a small holding, that is to say, a portion of land not less than one acre or more than fifty acres in extent and of an annual value not exceeding £50. It is not necessary here to describe the legal steps by which this was to be accomplished. The essence of the bargain was that a fifth of the purchase money should be paid down, and the remainder in half-yearly instahnents spread over a period not exceeding fifty years. But if the local authority thought fit a portion of the purchase money, not exceeding one-fourth, might remain unpaid, and be secured by a perpetual rent charge upon the holding. It cannot be said that this Act has attained the object for which it was drawn up. From a return made to the House of Commons in February 1898 we obtain a statement of the working of the Allotments and Small Holdings Acts between the 27th December 1894 and the 24th of June 1897. Of this document the following is a summary. Land was acquired for allotments between the 27th December 1894 and 24th of June 1897 by— 3 county councils: (a) in two cases by purchase by agreement, the land handed to parish councils to manage ; (6) in one case hiring by agreement. Total acreage, 33 acres 38 poles—let to forty-five tenants. 3 councils of county boroughs : one case of purchase, three of hiring by agreement. Total acreage, 42 acres 2 roods 23 poles—let to 171 tenants. 120 urban district councils: (a) in 17 cases purchase by agreement; (6) in 118 cases hiring by agreement. Total acreage, 1591 acres 2 roods 4 poles let to 6644 tenants. 9 rural district councils : four cases by purchase, seven by hire. Total acreage, 160 acres 2 roods 18 poles let to 288 tenants. 1009 parish councils: (a) in six cases by compulsory hiring; (&) in 1022 cases by hiring by agreement. Total acreage, 12,967 acres 2 roods 24 poles let to 24,389 tenants.
SMALL
HOLDINGS
323
4 parish meetings: by hiring by agreement. Total acreage, 19 acres 17 poles—let to 47 tenants. 1 metropolitan vestry: by hiring by agreement. 4 acres 2 roods 12 poles—let to 79 tenants. In this period, therefore, local authorities have acquired for allotment 14,818 acres—let to 31,663 tenants; but 61 county councils, 61 councils of county boroughs, 963 urban district councils, 692 rural district councils, 6361 parish councils, and 5733 parish meetings had not acquired land for allotment. These facts are not highly encouraging to those who would wish to see every workman in possession of an allotment; but the results of the Small Holdings Act are trivial in comparison. Within the same period only three county councils had acquired land in six parishes for small holdings; in one it was by purchase, in the other five by hire, and the total acreage amounted to only 120 acres 3 roods 5 poles—let to 45 tenants. It is, however, an English characteristic to prefer private to public arrangements, and probably a very great majority of the allotments now being cultivated are due to individual initiative. There are no means of arriving at the actual facts, but data exist whereby it is at least possible to form some rough idea of them. It is not the custom to give in the annual agricultural returns any statement of the manner in which land is held, and the latest information is to be found in the returns presented to Parliament in 1895. From these we get the following table, which will enable the reader to compare the numbers of large and small holdings, and understand how land is held From 5 to From 1 to Above 50 Acres. 50 Acres. 5 Acres. No. Acreage. No. Acreage. No. Acreage. England 87,055 265,268 : 170,591 3,288,669 122,533 j1 21,290,751 Wales . 10,763 35,633 30,969 635,024 18,556 2,167,702 Scotland 20,150 65,891 33,921 608,930 25,568 i 4,219,645 Great Britain 117,968 366,792 j 235,481 4,532,623 166,657 i 27,678,098 LG It would appear from this that, whereas 271 million acres are held in large holdings, scarcely five million acres are in small holdings. The proportion varies greatly according to the district. Some counties, such as Cheshire and Worcester, are rich in small holdings; while others— Westmoreland and Devonshire, for example—contain few. We may assume, however, that the allotments do not come into the table at all. They are separately tabulated as holdings of land not exceeding an acre in extent. They may be summarized as follows :— of 1 Acre Under 1 Acre. Of 1 Acre. Total and over. England Wales . . Scotland . .
522,163 12,179 7,648
34,459 1,095 1,589
556,622 13,274 9,237
Great Britain
541,990
37,143
579,133
These figures are useful, but they should be taken as only approximate. It is in the nature of the case that there should be much fluctuation in the number of these tiny plots, movement of population and other causes frequently leading to whole nests of them being deserted by the original occupiers and turned into ordinary fields again. A large proportion of them are held by persons not engaged in agriculture, but following other pursuits : witness the fact that they are most numerous in proportion to every 1000 acres cultivated in Nottingham, Northampton, and Leicester. Very often an allotment is more acceptable to a village tradesman, a carpenter, bootmaker, or miner, than to a farm-servant. Work on it
