Lord Derby, in a letter addressed to Mr. Joseph Ellaby,
and published on Thursday, applied to the Small Holdings question one of his characteristic douches of cold reason. He thinks that the experiment of creating small holdings should be tried, "because the public evidently desires that the trial should be made,"- and because, if it succeeds, it will satisfy a 'numerous class, and " add to the value of land, which at present is lower than it ought to be." ".It remains to be seen whether very small proprietors can hold their own. They certainly have not done so in the past ; but many people hold that, being a more instructed-class than in former times, they will work harder and to better purpose. It may be so. Opinions differ, and nothing will settle the dispute except bringing the matter to a practical test. Until this is done, it is useless to dogmatise." Lord Derby, however, does not believe that small holdings will counteract the attraction of the towns. They do not in France, the land of small holdings, nor, again, in the United States. Better living in every sense, more amusements, and higher pay fully explain the townward movement. " The man on whom these attrac- tions operate most strongly is not likely to be kept back by the prospect of comparative solitude and hard work on a farm of five acres."
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