86 A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



close-fisted Finance Committee, without whose 

 express recommendation not even the most 

 sympathetic of County Councils can come to 

 the assistance of a vigorous Agricultural 

 Committee. 



Even where an Agricultural Committee 

 consists only of bona-fide agriculturists it by 

 no means follows that even a reasonably 

 strong minority of the Finance Committee 

 will have practical knowledge of the land. 

 The ruling spirits of the County Councils have 

 carefully preserved, in their own hands, the 

 great power Section 80 of the Act of 1888 

 gives them, so that the temporary aberration 

 of a Committee desiring to follow an enlightened 

 policy may be checked without the incon- 

 venience of a public discussion. 



In England, though not in Scotland, the 

 County Councils are thoroughly reactionary 

 in outlook. The great majority of the seats 

 are never contested. Few men with active, 

 progressive, enthusiastic minds can afford the 

 time or the money entailed in attendance at 

 meetings held in the daytime at a distant 

 county town. The effect of the legislation 

 of the twentieth century has been to overload 

 the County Councils with important social 

 work with which the members have no 

 sympathy. It is difficult to imagine a body 

 less fitted to deal with the present parlous 

 condition of farming under private enterprise 



