82 A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



the exercise of delegated powers. Women 

 must be included in the membership. An 

 extremely important subsection is worded 

 thus: "Every scheme shall provide ... for 

 the appointment ... of such persons only 

 as have practical, commercial, technical, or 

 scientific knowledge of Agriculture or an 

 interest in Agricultural Land." 



In practice the County Councils have elected 

 a majority of the Committees from their own 

 membership, and have added a sufficient 

 number of outsiders to bring this nucleus up 

 to two-thirds of the total membership. The 

 Ministry has then added the full third to which 

 they are entitled as a maximum under the Act. 



One county, that may be taken as typical, 

 framed its scheme to give a Committee con- 

 sisting of nineteen members of the County 

 Council (of whom three had to be the chair- 

 man and vice-chairman of the County 

 Council, and the chairman of that august body's 

 still more august Finance Committee), five 

 members nominated to the County Council by 

 interests for appointment, and twelve nominated 

 by the Ministry. The scheme for this particular 

 county boldly embodies the above-quoted 

 clause of the Act requiring all these members 

 to have practical or other active knowledge of 

 agriculture ; but it does not need a very vivid 

 imagination to conjure up circumstances under 

 which that County Council of ninety members 



