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importance to allow Incumbents, Corporations, and others to part with portions of their glebe or lands as they can already do for the purpose of schools under the Schools Sites Acts.
The following suggestions with respect to legislation are offered for consideration. It might be made the duty of every county authority on receiving a representation from a parish to the effect that cottagers or persons of the labouring class have not and cannot obtain gardens or allotments at a fair agricultural rent, to inquire into the case; and power should be conferred on the county authority of acquiring land and of letting it out in allotments, in cases where the representation is well founded, and land is not provided by voluntary arrangements. The effect of the county authority communicating to the landowner or landowners in a parish their opinion that allotments are required, would be, in the majority of cases, sufficient to stimulate voluntary action.
The mode of acquiring land might be by Provisional Order, to be made, on the application of the county authority, by the Land Commissioners, and confirmed by Parliament. Before deciding on an application, the Land Com- missioners would of course hold a local inquiry as to the necessity for Provisional Order, and as to the existence of land available for allotments. The size of allotments should be limited to a maximum of half an acre; and the quantity of land to be acquired from any one owner should also be limited by statute. The element of distance from the dwellings of the cottagers would also have to be considered.
Provision would have to be made for managing such allotments, and for defraying the expense of providing and managing them out of the rates of the parish, as well as for adjusting the rents, so as not to exceed the ordinary agricultural rent for land of like quality in the district.
rity to have powers.
In the above observations reference has been made to the county County authe authority as the local authority best fitted to be entrusted with the
powers of the Act. In the event of the establishment of county councils or boards, this view would probably meet with general acceptance.
The urban sanitary authorities,-i.e., town councils local boards, and improvement commissioners,—and the rural sanitary authorities, are the alter- native. It may be that urban sanitary districts would be excluded altogether from the suggested legislation, yet there are local board districts, if not boroughs, where allotments would be a boon to not a few of the population. It is, however, probable that these authorities would be less likely than county authority, whether representative or not, to administer such powers as those proposed to be conferred on them, with wisdom and impartiality.
The conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing observations may be summary, summarised as follows:-
The form of the existing law is unsatisfactory, and should eventually be
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