SMALL HOLDINGS ACT, 1907.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 19

SMALL HOLDINGS ACT, 1907.

The following are the principal niovisione of "' The Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1907 "': — PART I.— SMALL HOLDINGS. With a view to extending the provisions of small holdings, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries shall appoint two or more persons possessed of a knowledge of agriculture to be small holdings commissioners, and may appoint such other officers for the purposes of thie act as the board may, with the consent of the Treasury, determine. Acting under the directions of the board, the commissioners shall ascertain the extent to which there is a. demand for small hold- ■

ings or would be a demand if suitable land I were available, and the extent to which it I is reasonably piacticablo to satisfy any such demand, and for that purpose shall confer with the count} councils, and may co-operate with such other authorities,associations, a.nd persons as they think best qualified to assist them. Ihe council of any county, borough, district, or parish may make representations to the- board in regard to the matter, and councils shall furnish the commissioners with what information they require. The commissioners shall report the information acquired by them to the board, and if in the course of ' their inquiries they receive information as | to the existence of a demand -for allot- ! ' merits they •shall inform the local council . concerned. Where the board is of opinion that a scheme should be made it shall forward the report to the commissioners, with any modifications it thinks desirable, to the i county council, and the county council shall prepare one or more draft schemes to give ' ! effect to the report. ' i It shall be the duty of a county council on which obligations are imposed by a 6eheme to carry them into effect, and if it j fails so to fulfil its obligations, the board shall direct the commissioners to take steps for carrying the scheme into effect. Any order made bj the board directingthe Commissioners to jarrv a schome into effect shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament, and if it appears likely that the carrying out of a scheme under this act has resulted or is likely to result in a loss, the board may pay out of the small j holdings account the whole or part of the loss. ' A county council may nurcha.se or take land on lease for small holdings, and. if difficulty arises, may acquire land computeorilv. Section 7 enables a county council to adopt for letting and to let for small hold- j ings land so acquired; and 8 deals with the ( interpretation of '• The Small Holdings Act, 1892." j With the consent of the board a county ! council may let one or more small holdings to a.n association formed for the purpose of creating or promoting the creation of small holdings, and so constituted that the division of profits amonjr the members of the association is prohibited or restricted. A county council is enabled to relax the existing conditions as to the number of dwel!niEr-hou=es on a, 6mall holding. Section 21 amends " The Allotments Act, 1887," in various ways, and substitutes five acres for one acre as the limit of the extent of an allotment which may_ be held by one person. Sections 26, 27, and 28 deal respectively with the procedure for the compulsory acquisition of land; the power of a council to renew the tenancy of land eompulsorily hired : and the provisions as to the voluntary leasing of land for small holdings or allotments. In the case of glebe land or other land belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice hired by a council for small holdings or allotments, the provisions of " The Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act, 1871," shall not during the continuance of the tenancy be applicable to the buildings upon the land. At the determination of the tenancy the incumbent of the benefice may apply to the Kccleeiastical Commissioners for consent to the remo\al of any buildings which have been erected ; and on proof that any such buildings are useless the incumbent may pull them down and dispose of the materials, and the proceeds shall be paid to the commissioners, to be applied by them to the improvement of the bonefice. No land shall be authorised by an order under this act to be acquired compukorily which at the date of the order forms part of any park, ga.2-den. or pleasure ground, or part of a horn© farm, or otherwise is required for the amenity or convenience of any dwelling-house, or which is woodland not wholly surrounded by or adjacent to land acquired by a council, or the property of a local authority, or which has been acquired for the purposes of a railway, dock, canal, water, or other public undertaking, or is the- site of an ancient monument or other object of areheeological interest. The council shall also avoid takingan undue or inconvenient quantity of land from any one owner or tenant, and. so faxas is practicable, shall avoid displacing any coneiderable number of agricultural labourers. Where a labourer who has been regularly employed on any land acquired by a county council for small holdings proves * that the effect of the acquisition was to de- j pri\e him of employment, and that there » was no employment of an equally beneficial character available in the same locality, the county council may pay him such compensation as it thinks just for his loss of employment or for hie expenses in moving to another locality, and any sum so paid ehall be treated as part of the expenses of the acquisition of the land. Thq act shall come into operation on January 1. 1908, and shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. Mr Taylor Horsefield, foundryman, of Bendigo, has rust completed, to the order of Messrs O. R. M'Kenzie and Co., of New South Wales, a drill of exceptionally large proportions, which is to be used in drilling 1 holes of 18in diameter in rock about 30ft ' or 40ft under water. The drill, which I weighs li tons, has a cylinder with a 1 diameter of Bin, with 12in stroke*