ALLOTMENTS (SCOTLAND) BILL. (Hansard, 16 June 1892)

THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (The Marquess of LOTHIAN)
My Lords, I have to ask your Lordships to give a Second Reading to this Bill. The object of it is to extend to Scotland the provisions of the Allotments Acts of 1887 and 1889. I do not think I need detain your Lordships at all by going into the details of this Bill, because it has been framed, as far as the procedure in Scotland would allow of it, upon the two Acts of 1887 and 1889 which refer to England alone. The two English Acts were to a certain extent experimental; but, since they have been in force, a desire has been frequently expressed that the principle embodied in them should be established in Scotland as well as in England. There is another reason which makes legislation for such a purpose partly appropriate at the present time, because there is at present before your Lordships a Bill, to which your Lordships gave a Second Reading three nights ago, which has been framed with the object of promoting the creation of small agricultural holdings, and thereby preventing, so far as legislation of this nature can prevent it, the wholesale transference of the population from the rural districts to the urban districts. That Bill applies to Scotland as well as England; but the Bill which I now ask to be read a second time may be considered to be, in effect, another step, so far as Scotland is concerned, towards the end which 1218 your Lordships have in view in passing the Small Agricultural Holdings Bill for England—namely, to prevent, as far as might be possible, the migration from the rural to the urban districts. My Lords, to cultivate an allotment is no bad training for the cultivation of a small holding, and it may safely be said that the chance of creating a numerous class of small holders will be slight unless the class of labourers from which they should come has some chance, first of all, of gaining practical experience on a small scale. How far such opportunities already exist in Scotland, and how far Scottish labourers are willing to take advantage of them, is a question that I need not entertain at this moment; but if, without danger to anyone, it is possible to encourage the procuring of allotments, and thus to promote the cultivation of the soil, and to prevent, if only to a small extent, the migration from the rural to the urban districts, then I think Her Majesty's Government are justified in asking your Lordships to give a Second Reading to a Bill which has for its object that very desirable result; and the measure to which I have to ask your Lordships to give a Second Reading is framed with that intention. I do not think I need enter upon the urgent necessity of a Bill such as this. It is not a fact that requires to be demonstrated. The Bill is an honest attempt to keep the labourer to a closer connection with the land; and, whether that closer connection is rendered necessary by the social conditions or not, it is I think a thing in itself desirable. Whether such a close connection can be achieved or not depends I think entirely upon the nature of the soil, and other circumstances that the Legislature cannot control; but the Legislature can remove the obstacles to any advance on the road that is desirable. In addition to this I think, so far as Scotland is concerned, your Lordships who are acquainted with the history of the agricultural labourer in Scotland will admit that there is one system in Scotland which it would be very desirable as far as possible to put an end to. I refer to the peculiar system in Scotland by which the labourers on the farms are apt, after a very short residence on one farm, to change masters and go to another. The object of the Bill, as I have stated already, is to prevent, as far as may be possible, the migration of the 1219 rural population into the burghs; but in addition to that we have in Scotland a system which involves the migration, not only to the cities, but the migration of the agricultural population from one part of the country to another. I have always held that this is a great drawback to our agricultural population in Scotland. I have no doubt it has its advantages; but, on the other hand, I think the disadvantages more than counterbalance any advantages which may be obtained from the system. In the first place we have what are called Hiring Fairs in Scotland. I think those in themselves are an institution which it is not desirable to continue, and if, by any means, they could be stopped, it would be much in the interest of the agricultural population. But if, under this Bill, the rural population can be induced to acquire allotments in their own district and in the neighbourhood in which they live, I think we may be certain that the result will be that gradually, not at first, they will be more inclined to remain in the places in which perhaps they were born, and in which at any rate they have passed a large portion of their lives. And looking to the present political state of the country, and the large amount of power that is given to the agricultural labourer, I feel convinced, as I think your Lordships will be, that it is very desirable that the agricultural labourer should remain fixed more or less by his own interest in one part of the country, and not be constantly migrating from place to place with interests affecting naturally himself only, and not with regard to the part of the country in which he lives. If this Bill has any effect of that description I am sure that that alone will be a great advantage to the rural population of Scotland. The system that I have alluded to does not affect the whole of Scotland; but it affects very largely the agricultural population in the south. My Lords, I do not propose to-night to enter into the details of the Bill, because it is identically, for all practical purposes, the same Bill to which your Lordships have already assented on the part of England, and therefore I think it would only be a waste of your Lordships' time to go into the details on this occasion. With these few remarks, I have to ask your Lordships to read the Bill a second time.

*THE MARQUESS OF HUNTLY
My Lords, I do not rise in any way to offer objection to the Second Reading of the Bill, but merely to remark upon its very great importance. I think the noble Marquess has not in the least exaggerated the importance of the subject, and I go rather further than he does in thinking that the Act will be a great boon in the agricultural districts of Scotland. I have been always very much astonished that when the Allotments Act was passed for England it was not also passed for Scotland. But as regards the many details of the Bill it would be impossible, in the short time we have had it before us, to criticise it. So far as I can see it goes entirely upon the lines of the English Act adjusted to meet Scotch law, and I look forward in the rural districts of Scotland to its being brought into operation at once. I think that the county I belong to was the foremost county in appealing to have the Act extended to Scotland, and I hope that in Aberdeenshire it will be made use of. My Lords, the only criticism I would offer is as to the election of managers in Clause 9. Do I rightly understand it to be the object of the Bill that if a parish wishes to elect managers of the allotments, upon petition to the Local Authority, that is the County Council, they may have the right, if supported by one sixth of the ratepayers, to take the management of the allotments out of the hands of the County Council?

THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN
Yes, that is so.

*THE MARQUESS OF HUNTLY
I think that goes further than the English Act does. It is a very strong order that, by the petition of a certain number of the inhabitants of a parish, the whole management of an Act of Parliament may be taken out of the hands of the Local Authority.

THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN
I think the noble Marquess will find that that follows exactly the lines of the English Act, and is a course which has been followed by Parliament on a great many occasions—namely, to give to the people interested in a district the management of the district itself, or rather 1221 to take it out of the hands of the County Council. The interpretation put upon Clause 9 by the noble Marquess is quite correct. Whether the noble Marquess objects to it or not is another question.

THE MARQUESS OF HUNTLY
I do not know whether I made myself quite clear. Does the clause take the whole management only of the allotments out of the hands of the Local Authority, or does it take the control of the finances as well, or would they be entirely responsible under the Act for the management?

THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN
They would be entirely responsible under the Act for the management.