THE SMALL HOLDINGS AND ALLOTMENTS ACT, 1908 [8 EDW. 7, c. 36]. An Act to consolidate the Enactments with respect to Small Holdings and Allotments in England and Wales. [1st August, 1908.] BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I.-SMALL HOLDINGS. Provision of Small Holdings. [Sects. 1 to 22 inclusive of the Act of 1908, which related to the provision of small holdings, are repealed by the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1926, and the present enactments as to the provision of such holdings are contained in sects. 1 to 11 inclusive of that Act; see post, pp. 189 to 205.] $ 23. Duty of certain councils to provide allotments. PART II.-ALLOTMENTS. Provision of Allotments. 23.-(1.) If the council of any borough, urban district, or parish are of opinion that there is a demand for allotments for the labouring population in the borough, urban district, or parish, and that such allotments cannot be obtained at a reasonable rent and on reasonable conditions by voluntary arrangement between the owners of land suitable for such allotments and the applicants for the same, the council shall provide a sufficient number of allotments, and shall let such allotments to persons belonging to the labouring population resident in the borough, district, or parish, and desiring to take the same.1 (2.) On a representation in writing to the council of any borough, urban district, or parish, by any six registered parliamentary electors or ratepayers resident in the borough, urban district, or parish, that the circumstances of the borough, urban district, or parish are such that it is the duty of the council to take proceedings under this Part of this Act therein, the council shall take such representation into consideration. (3.) For the purpose of this section, the expression 'reasonable rent means the rent, exclusive of rates, taxes, and tithe rent-charge, which a person taking an allotment might reasonably be expected to pay, taking one year with another, to a landlord, having regard to the value of similar land in the neighbourhood, to the extent and situation of allotment, to the expenses of the adapting the land to the purposes of the allotment, and to the repairs and other outgoings payable by the landlord, and to the cost and risk of collecting the rents of and otherwise managing allotments. (4.) The duty of a council to provide allotments under this Act shall not include the duty of providing allotments exceeding one acre in extent.2 (1) Under the Allotments Act, 1887, the duty of providing allotments by purchasing or hiring land for that purpose was imposed on the sanitary authority, whose duties were transferred to district councils by the Local Government Act, 1894. That Act by sect. 10 also empowered parish councils to hire land for allotments. The present section (which re-enacts in this respect the provisions of sect. 20, sub-sect. 2, of the repealed Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1907) transfers the powers and duties of rural district councils in respect of allotments to parish councils, which include in the case of rural parishes not having a parish council, parish meetings. See sect. 61, sub-sect. 4. In urban districts these powers and duties are vested in the borough council or urban district council as the case may be. In a rural parish not having a parish council the powers given to a parish council by the Act may be exercised by a committee appointed by the parish meeting out of their own number. See Local Government Act, 1894, s. 19 (3). The words in italics are to be omittedsee Act of 1919, Sched. II. In the case of borough and urban district councils with populations of 10,000 and upwards, the obligation to provide allotments is limited to the provision of allotment gardens not exceeding twenty poles in extent. Act of 1922, s. 13, post, p. 166. See There is no power to let to persons not resident in the borough, district, or parish except under sect. 27, sub-sect. 5. Women, as well as men, are eligible tenants for allotments. (2) There is no definition of "allotment" in this Act, except that it includes a field-garden" (sect. 61). For the purposes of the Allotments Act, 1922, an allotment is, by sect. 3, sub-sect. 7, defined as meaning any parcel of land, whether attached to a cottage or not, of not more than two acres in extent, held by a tenant under a landlord and cultivated as a farm or a garden, or partly as a garden and partly as a farm." See post, p. 155. In Cooper v. Pearse (65 L. J. M. C. 95; (1896) 1 Q. B. 562), it was held that a piece of land less than two acres in extent, occupied by a seedsman for the purpose of his business, and having on it vegetables, fruit-trees and flowering plants, which he sold, was not "cultivated as a garden," and therefore not an allotment within that Act. To come within the Act as a garden, the holding must be a place where fruit and vegetables are grown for food, or a place laid out for pleasure" (per Collins, J.). § 23. §§ 23, 24. Duty of county councils to act in default of district and parish councils. A holding exceeding one acre in size and not exceeding fifty acres, used for agriculture, which includes horticulture, may be a "small holding" as defined by sect. 61, the duty of providing which is, by the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1926, imposed upon county councils. Any application for a holding between one and five acres to a parish council, which they do not see their way to deal with, should be forwarded to the county council. Sect. 27, sub-sect. 3, contains a restriction against any one person holding any allotment or allotments exceeding five acres. 24.-(1.) It shall be the duty of a county council to ascertain the extent to which there is a demand for allotments [by any person or by an association to which allotments may be let under this Act] in the several urban districts (other than boroughs)1 and rural parishes in the county, or would be a demand if suitable land were available, and the extent to which it is reasonably practicable, having regard to the provisions of this Act, to satisfy any such demand, and for that purpose to co-operate with such authorities, associations, and persons as they think best qualified to assist them, and take such other steps as they think necessary. (2.) The county council, if satisfied that the circumstances are such that land for allotments should be acquired by them under this section, shall pass a resolution to that effect, and thereupon the powers and duties of the district or parish council under the provisions of this Act relating to allotments shall be transferred from that council to the county council, and the county council, in substitution for that council, shall proceed to acquire land in accordance with this Act, and otherwise execute this Act in the district or parish:2 Provided that this section shall not affect the property in, or any powers or duties of the district or parish council in relation to, any land which, before the passing of the resolution, was acquired by the district or parish council under this Act, or any enactment repealed by this Act. (3.) Where the powers of the district or parish council are, by virtue of this section, transferred to the county council, the following provisions shall have effect: (a) The provisions of this Act relating to allotments (b) The county council may borrow for the purposes of (d) All sums received by the county council in respect (e) The county council may delegate to the district or parish council any powers under this Act relating to the management of the allotments, and the letting and use thereof, and the recovery of the rent and of possession thereof; and, subject to the terms of the delegation, all expenses and receipts arising in the exercise of the powers so $ 24. |