94 A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



so hard that the Lords, weakened by fatigue 

 from an all-night sitting, graciously allowed 

 the measure to pass. 



A landowner like Captain Fitzroy, M.P., 

 need not fear that the beneficent beams of 

 land nationalisation are to be discovered in 

 the barren pages of this Act. Whilst money 

 is to be spent on agriculture, and land values 

 are to be improved, the nation is to have no 

 permanent hold over the land. The farmer 

 who does not practise good husbandry may 

 have his lease determined, though he occupies 

 no other house and no other land ; but the 

 mansion, the park, and even the home farm 

 of the great landowner who ill-cultivates his 

 land, are to be inviolate from invasion. The 

 War was not fought in vain ; the private parks 

 are to be made safe from democracy. 



The great landowners in the Cabinet have 

 been victorious. So carefully has the Act been 

 drafted to safeguard their sacred rights that, 

 even where the County Agricultural Committee 

 finds an estate mismanaged, after it has brought 

 the land into good heart, it is to hand back as 

 quickly as possible the estate to the original 

 owner. The Committee cannot sell it without 

 his sanction, nor can it, apparently, acquire it 

 on any terms for the nation. And, mark you 

 this, sporting rights are to be particularly 

 protected in the interests of the owner ! 



Hunting is in vogue once more. Foxes 



