34 A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



After describing how the Committee culti- 

 vated the land, the Report adds: "The de- 

 cision to use the farm as a training centre 

 for soldiers was fully justified by the results. 

 Accommodation had been found for 30-40 men 

 at a time. During the six months previous 

 to the inspection between 70 and 80 men 

 had been trained and sent out. The Inspector 

 reported that in his opinion great credit was 

 due to the management for the way in which, 

 with quite unskilled labour, the condition of 

 the farm had been so greatly improved since 

 the Committee's occupation. 



Case No. 1 1 (Staffordshire). — This farm of 

 1 1 3 acres was reported to be the most derelict 

 farm the Committee's Executive Officer had ever 

 seen. Ninety acres, which should have been 

 arable, were overrun with twitch grass, and 

 the only stock on the farm was & or 10 cattle, 

 and about the same number of horses. The 

 Committee took possession in March 191 8. 



Case No. 12 (E. Suffolk) is again an in- 

 stance of the mismanagement of an occupying- 

 owner. When he purchased the farm in 191 2 

 it " was in fair order, but had since been allowed 

 to fall into a deplorable condition. . . . There 

 is an absence of any regular system of crop- 

 ping. There were 4 horses on the farm (148 

 acres) one of which was a fair, useful animal, 

 the other three very inferior. There is a 

 good house empty and a good cottage empty. 



