Page:Speeches and addresses by the late Thomas E Ellis M P.pdf/131

 allowed scores and scores of cottages to tumble down." This consolidation, besides decreasing the valuable class of small holders, leads to the employment of less labour on the land, with the result that the land suffers in its cultivation. Speaking of parts of Carnarvonshire, Mr. Lleufer Thomas points out that it was the lifelong policy of the late Lord Newborough to do away with cottages and small holdings, with the view of grouping all his estate (known as the Glynllifon estate) in a few large farms. Some Anglesea landowners, likewise, in their endeavour to stamp out pauperism on their estates, have reduced the number of their cottages to a minimum. Personally, I do not believe that this hustling of the labouring poor is any more in accordance with sound rural economy than it is with Christian charity. One marked and deplorable result of the doing away with country cottages and small holdings is that the number of married men employed on farms is less than it used to be, and in these days these are in parts of the country very few. The families are drawn to the towns and