the Board of Agriculture to ascertain
the extent of the demand for small holdings, and confer with county
councils as to how best to provide them. Local authorities are
required to furnish information and give assistance to the
commissioners, who report to the board. If the board, after
considering the report, consider it desirable, they require the county
council concerned to prepare a scheme for the provision of small
holdings; if the county council decline to prepare a scheme, the board
may direct the commissioners to do so. A county council may also
prepare a scheme on its own initiative. When a scheme has been
confirmed, the county council must carry out the obligations imposed
on it within a prescribed time; if they make default the board may
direct the commissioners to assume all the powers of the county
council, and the county council must repay to the board the expenses
the commissioners may incur. A county council may delegate, by
arrangement, to the council of any borough or urban district in the
county their powers in respect of the act. A small holding is defined
by the act as one which exceeds 1 acre, but must not exceed 50 acres
or L50 annual value. Every county council must establish a small
holdings and allotments committee, to which must be referred all
matters relating to the exercise and performance by the council of
their powers and duties as to small holdings and allotments.

Hospitals.

Under the Isolation Hospitals Acts 1893 and 1901, a county council may
provide for the establishment of isolation hospitals for the reception
of patients suffering from infectious diseases on the application of
any local authority within the county, or on the report of the medical
officer of the county that hospital accommodation is necessary and has
not been provided, or it may take over hospitals already provided by a
local authority. The council by their order constitute a hospital
district and form a committee for its administration. The committee
have power to purchase land, erect a hospital, provide all necessary
appliances, and generally administer a hospital for the purposes above
mentioned.

Parish councils.

The powers and duties of a county council under the Local Government
Act 1894 are numerous and varied, and the chief of them are mentioned
hereafter in connexion with parish councils. The county council may
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