machinery and equipment is also a serious handicap. Beyond all this, however, are 

 the powerful forces of inertia on the part of the agricultural communities, European 

 and African, who fail to realise the seriousness of the situation. 



Though counsels of perfection may appear, it is necessary to emphasize the 

 following once again to Governments and peoples. 



(1) Magnitude of the dangers threatening us all. 



(2) Need for more vigorous propaganda and education of all kinds and in all circles 

 from ploughman to parliamentarian. 



(3) Urgency of training many more men at the various levels for undertaking work of 

 various kinds — scientific and other — against the menaces emerging from cur- 

 rent agricultural and related practices. 



(4) The absolute necessity for attracting more men for the planning of reclamation, 

 conservation and rational land use — notwithstanding the increased national ex- 

 penditure involved in the offering of better stipends and careers. 



(5) Close and frequent collaboration among the various States, so that matters of 

 , policy and practice may be the more readily studied and co-ordinated action 



the more readily taken. 



In retelling what is already known we must remember - in our endeavours in any 

 great matter — the sentiment that * ... it is not the beginning, but the continuing of 

 the same, until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory . . . ' We 

 must continue advising, guiding, stimulation and educating to the uttermost. 



Meanwhile the desert is on the march. We must act so that this march does not 

 end in the 'Great South (— Central — Eastern — ) African Desert uninhabitable by 

 man'. (Drought Investigation Commission, S.A. 1923 — except for the words within 

 brackets!) 



161 



