to give up their land for the purpose of providing further small holdings, even though their land may be in a good state of cultivation. In this connection it must be remembered that the Bill does not in any way alter or diminish any of the safeguards which Parliament has provided in previous small holding legislation with a view to protect their interests. Thus, if a Council purchases by agreement a farm occupied by a tenant who is under notice to quit, the effect of the sale will be to make the notice void, unless the tenant, prior to the sale, agrees that the notice shall be valid (see Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923, section 26). On the other hand, if a Council, after purchasing a farm in the occupation of a tenant, gives notice to terminate the tenancy, the tenant will be entitled, on quitting the holding, to the compensation payable to him under the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923, whether for improvements or for disturbance. He will, therefore, be in exactly the same position as if the farm had been purchased by a private individual for his own occupation.

In the event of a Council proceeding to acquire land by compulsion, or to extinguish the interest of the tenant compulsorily after acquiring the land by agreement, the Council will be obliged to pay full compensation, and such compensation in default of agreement will be settled by an arbitrator. If part only of a holding is taken and the effect is seriously to depreciate the value of the remainder, either to the owner or to the tenant, the arbitrator is bound to take this into account when fixing the price or rent for the part taken, and the amount of compensation to be paid. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that Councils will exercise their powers in an unreasonable manner, as they would be likely thereby to involve themselves in losses. of which they would in any case have to bear some portion, while if the Minister saw fit to withhold a grant, they would have to bear the whole.

An additional safeguard against the unreasonable exercise of compulsory powers is afforded by the fact that no compulsory order made by a Local Authority is of any effect until confirmed by the Minister, and where there are substantial objections to the order the Minister will not give his decision until after a public local inquiry has been held at which all the interested parties can be heard.

Loans to Small Holders for Farming Purposes.

It is proposed to repeal section 18 of the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 1919, under which Councils may make or guarantee loans to their tenants. This provision has proved very unsatisfactory in practice. Speaking generally, though there are striking exceptions, those to whom loans have been granted have shown themselves the least successful small holders. Many of them appear to have assumed that their loans could be used by them indefinitely as farming capital, and about 40 per cent. of the amount advanced (£176,000) has been written off as

irrecoverable. Another reason for the repeal of the section referred to is that all the information received by the Ministry indicates that there is at present a demand from suitable applicants, possessed of both agricultural knowledge and adequate capital, sufficient to occupy all the small holdings which it will be practicable to create under the Bill for many years to come.

Size of Small Holdings.

For the purpose of the existing Acts a small holding is defined as an agricultural holding which exceeds one acre and either does not exceed fifty acres, or, if exceeding fifty acres, is at the date of sale or letting of an annual value for the purposes of income tax not exceeding fifty pounds. By Clause 14 of the Bill it is proposed to increase the limit of fifty pounds to one hundred pounds.

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES, 3rd November, 1926.

Printed under the authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office
By Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd., East Harding Street, E.C. 4,
Printers to the King's most Excellent Majesty.

RETURN to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons,
dated 23 March 1926;-for,

"RETURN showing the NUMBER of ACCIDENTS resulting in DEATH or PERSONAL INJURY known by the POLICE to have been caused by VEHICLES in STREETS, ROADS, or PUBLIC PLACES in GREAT BRITAIN during the YEAR ended the 31st day of December, 1925 (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper No. 66 of Session 1925)."

54

PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses:
Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C. 2; 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W. 1;
York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff;

or 120, George Street, Edinburgh;

or through any Bookseller.

1926.

Price 2d. Net.

RETURN showing the NUMBER of ACCIDENTS resulting in DEATH OF PERSONAL INJURY known by the POLICE to have been caused by VEHICLES in STREETS, ROADS, or PUBLIC PLACES in GREAT BRITAIN during the YEAR ended the 31st day of December, 1925.

NOTE-Except where otherwise stated, each accident, causing death or personal injury is counted as one accident only, irrespective of the number of persons killed or injured thereby. An accident in which more than one vehicle is involved is also counted as one accident only. Cases in which only the driver or rider is killed or injured are included.

(a) The figures for the Metropolitan Police District represent the number of persons injured, not the number of accidents. ≈ (16)25986(23835) Wt 25665-C552 750 4/26

(Item 48)

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(1)

ENGLAND-cont.

KENT COUNTY-cont.
Rochester

Tunbridge Wells

LANCASTER COUNTY
Accrington
Ashton-under-Lyne

Bacup

Barrow-in-Furness

Blackburn

Blackpool

Bolton

Bootle

Burnley
Clitheroe

Lancaster.
Liverpool-
Manchester

Oldham
Preston
Rochdale

St. Helens

Salford
Southport
Warrington
Wigan

LEICESTER COUNTY
Leicester

LINCOLN COUNTY -
Boston

Grantham

Grimsby

18244

11

28

1261

39

40

9

49

10 12

9 11