82 INFOIUVIATIOX RELATING TO AGRICT"I,TUIiAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



" 17. The Wages Board shall be known under the title of " The Agricul- 

 tural Wages Board (England and Wales) ". 



"18. Any question upon the construction or interpretation of these 

 Regulations shall in the event of dis])ute be referred to the Board of Agri- 

 culture and Fisheries for decision ". 



RUSSIA. 



FOOD CONTROL COMMITTEI-.S. - The Russian to-ol?erator, Vol. I, No 10, London, Septem- 

 ber loi;. -" ■'^'"■"' ■-' '^' 



The problem of the food supply is one of the heaviest legacies of the 

 old regime to the revolutionary government of Russia. The provi-sional go- 

 vernment was no sooner formed, than it set itself to regulate the supply- , 

 transport and distribution of food and other primary necessaries. 



Some help was afforded by spontaneous action on the part of the peo- 

 ple. In the early days of the revolution local conferences on the food ques- 

 tion were convoked practically all over Russia, and the conferences formed 

 local food boards. The composition both of conferences and of boards 

 varied from place to place but as a rule their leading members were local 

 co-operators. In many cases, even when a conference had not been 'aim- 

 moned, the managing commiti ees of local consumers' societies or of the unions 

 of these were entrusted with the duties of food boards. Thus a nucleus 

 existed for the organization which the central government called into being. 



The Organization of the Committees. — The central government iniblished 

 its regulations as to this organization at the same time as it introduced 

 the grain monopoly. These regulations set up all over the country a net- 

 work of local food committees, of which the members are elected and re- 

 present all groups and classes of the population. The element of co-ordi- 

 nation is provided b}- the rule that the committees include representatives 

 of the National Food Council, deputed b^' the latter, and also represeut^^- 

 tives of such other government departments as the War Office, the Home 

 OjSice, and the Ministries of Railways. Finance, Trade and Agriculture. The 

 Commitees may co-opt experts but these can act onh' in a consultative ca- 

 pacity. 



There are ijrovincial, town and district committees. The members 

 of the committee of a province are elected b}'' the provincial zemstvo and 

 municipalities, the councils of workmen's and soldiers' delegates, the local 

 trade unions, local councils of the peasants' anion, the co-operative societies 

 and local agricultiiral societies, and the local trade organizations called com- 

 mitees of exchange. Of the thirty-five to forty members of a provincial 

 committee only three represent trade, «ix represent the co-operative so- 

 cieties and from three to five the agricultural societies. 



The town committees have a more or les.- similar composition but in- 

 clude also members elected b}' the employees of the municipalities. 



The district committees include representatives of the employees of 

 the district zemstvos. The rural district committees are composed en- 



