122 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRElvAND - MISCELLANEOUS 



ated, and that the increase of game, if there is an increase, is the effect and 

 not the cause of tinder-cultivation. 



Against the proposal for the establishment of Land Courts, the pam- 

 phlet urges that in the new relations which will exist between landlord and 

 tenant, the farmer could no longer look to the landlord for financial as- 

 sistance. It asserts, moreover, as a matter of common knowledge that about 

 half the land of England is rented at from 20 to 25 per cent, below its 

 economic value and that, therefore, many tenant-farmers would hcxve to 

 face the risk of a rise in rent. It is added that the proposed additional 

 power of com]3ulsory expropriation, where land was required for pubHc 

 purposes such as the creation of small holdings, would make the fixity of 

 tenure a delusion in the case of large farmers. 



§ 4. A UNIONIST LAND FOLIC V. 



Whereas the Government has officially put forward proposals for land 

 reform, it does not appear that the Unionist Party has as yet included an}'" 

 clearly definied policy in the party programme 



Speeches have been made by party leaders, but they are of a somewhat 

 tentative character, and have not yet committed the party to a definite 

 line of action. The tendency, however, is clearly in favour of giving facili- 

 ties to tenant-farmers to purchase their holdings. 



As illustrating the Unionist point of view, we may mention an impor- 

 tant memorandum entitled " A Unionist Agricultural Policy, " written 

 by " A Group of Unionists " and published in September 1913. It was pre- 

 pared, we are told, by a nmnber of Unionists, members of Parliament and 

 others, and is " an attempt to formulate a definite and comprehensive pol- 

 icy for the development of British agriculture. " 



The principal points of view from which the memorandum is written 

 are (i) the maintenance of the national physique ; (2) the development of 

 agriculture as one of the best methods of social reform, and (3) the desir- 

 abiHty of maintaining the wheat supply in time of war. 



Like the Laud Enquiry Committee, the authors of the memorandum 

 make the condition of the labourer their starting point and their conclusions 

 on the subject are scarcely less strongly expressed. " In many counties, " 

 they say, " the great majority of the labourers are ill-educated and ill-fed, 

 and consequently inefficient, both mentally and physically. In other coun- 

 ties, w^here the average wage paid is comparatively high, some employers 

 pay wages considerably below the average. " 



The memorandiun declares that it has become necessary to establish 

 some means of raising wages to a subsistence level, and recommends the 

 estabHshment of Agricultural Wages Boards. It does not propose that a 

 minimum rate should be fixed for the whole country, but that rates should 

 be fixed for different districts by local boards. 



