The Report of the Departmental Committee on Small Holdings was
issued on Monday. The main reoommenda- Lion is that existing machinery for the provision of small holdings should be supplemented and assisted by the direct intervention of a central Government Department. With this view it is suggested that special branches for England and Scotland of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries should be formed to make definite experiments in the creation of small holdings, and that Parliament should be invited to make an annual grant for the purpose. Should the Board be unable to obtain land by agreement for these operations, the Report recommends that compulsory powers should be conferred on it. Numerous modifications of the Small Holdings Act are then suggested, mainly with a view to lessening the sum to be paid down in the first place, to increasing the amount to be advanced by the County Council, and to relaxing the restrictions as to the transfer of holdings and the erection of buildings. Finally, the Government are urged to promote all forms of agricultural co-operation, and especially to encourage the formation of agricultural credit societies. The Report is signed by all the Committee except Mr. Jesse Collings, who in a separate Report recommends that a substantial sum be placed at the disposal of the Board of Agriculture in order to create small holdings throughout the country, and dissents from the Committee's recommenda- tion as to granting State loans to private owners for the provision of small holdings.
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