AGRICULTURE AND THE WAR 



ditiire find be open to inspection by any officer of the Board, and those 

 accounts shall be made up and audited in such manner as the Board shall 

 direct... An executive committee may, subject to any directions given by the 

 Board, appoint such sub-committees as the committee thinks fit. A sub- 

 conmiittee may consist either wholly or partly of persons not being members 

 of the executive conmiittee ". A saving clause provides that the execu- 

 tive comnaittee "shall not enter on or take possession of any comnion land 

 as defined b}^ this Order, without -a further consent given by the Board ". 

 Thus in England and Wales the machinery' for the intensification of 

 ;igriculturtT.l production consists in each county of a War Agricultural Com- 

 mittee, the directing bodj', on which de])tnds a War Agricultural Executive 

 Committee, which leaves certain duties to sub-committees. 



b) The District Sub-Committees. 



In May 1017 the Director-General of the Food Pioduction Department 

 of the Board made certain suggestions to the Agricultural Executive Com- 

 mittees in jvigland and Wales as to these sub-committees. " As a rule ", 

 he stated, "it is desirable that the county Executive Committee should 

 divide the county into convenient districts for the purpose of the increased 

 ])roduction of food, which would in most cases correspond with the existing 

 Rural Districts, and should appoint to each district a Sub-committee of 

 not less than four or more than seven members, having experience in agri- 

 ciilture and willing to attend meetings regularly' during the war... A district 

 committee should meet at least once a fortnight and if possible once a week... 

 It should keep minutes of its proceedings and forward a report after each 

 meeting to the County Execiitive Committee and to the Board of Agricul- 

 ture's commissioner for the distiict. It should appoint one or more persons 

 experienced in agricidture as its correspondents and representatives in each 

 parish or convenient group of (usually not more than three) parishes in the 

 district... It should report to the County Exeuctive Committee any land 

 within its district which is from any cause not at present producing its'full 

 quota of food for the nation, suggest the action necessary to obtain the best 

 |)ossible output of food from the land, and assist the County Executive Com- 

 mittee in carrying out any measure which it may decide to take with that 

 oljject... It should report to the County Executive Committee any grass land 

 which in its opinion ought to be plouglied up for the 1918 croj)ping. It 

 should report anj' special cases of labour shortage and should see that farmers 

 needinglabour are put in touch with any available source of suppl^^.. It should 

 co-operate closelj- with other organizations for the supply of labour, such ns 

 the Women's War Agricultural Committee and the Agricultural Represent- 

 ative of the National vService Department. It should assist farmers in 

 obtaining through the County Executive Committee good seed and manures, 

 sp.raying materials for potatoes and, where necessary, the use of horses and 

 implements. It should do everything in its power to facilitate the working 

 of any motor tractors and steam tackle available in the county, and make 

 known to farmers the terms on which their use can be obtained. It should 

 call the attention of farmers to the facilities for obtaining credit from the 



