12 A UNIONIST AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



proposal we make a strong appeal to such critics 

 to give the Wages Board their support, and to 

 direct their criticism towards the improvement 

 of the scheme. At the same time if there are 

 some who, while unable to advance a concrete 

 proposal, yet think that the remedy which we 

 propose is powerless to remedy the disease, we 

 are sure that their inability to accept this par- 

 ticular proposal will not prejudice their considera- 

 tion of the other reforms which we advocate. 



(6) Reconstruction of Village Life. — The neces- 

 sity for offering the labourer an opportunity of 

 acquiring an interest in the land, and thereby in- 

 creasing his earnings, is of equal importance with a 

 direct increase in wages. Such opportunities will 

 create for the labourer a future on the land, and 

 supply a stepping-stone to the acquisition of larger 

 interests ; and they will check the tide of emigra- 

 tion which to-day runs highest in those very 

 districts where the wages paid are sufficient to 

 enable men to save money, while the lack of such 

 opportunities encourages them to emigrate to 

 countries where land is easily obtained. 



Any one acquainted with the present conditions 

 of life in an ordinary English village knows how 

 unsatisfactory and disorganised they are. 



However much a man may save, there are no 

 opportunities for employing his savings in the 

 village itself, and a labourer cannot be blamed if 

 he decides that, so far as he is able, he will send 



