Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this regulation, no person shall be selected as a tenant to whom a smallholding may be let under section 44 of the Act unless he shows to the satisfaction of the smallholdings authority that for a period of not less than five years (whether continuous or not) he has been occupied in full-time practical farm work;

provided that for the purpose of this regulation any period during which a person was attending a full-time course in agriculture at a university, college or other establishment of further education shall, up to a maximum of three years, be deemed to be a period during which he was occupied in full-time practical farm work.

The foregoing paragraph shall not apply to the widow of a deceased tenant of a smallholding in relation to the first letting of that smallholding after the death of the tenant if, when that letting is under consideration by the smallholdings authority, she is residing on the smallholding.