AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEES 97 



one doubts whether farmers have a liking for 

 any form of control, either in prices or by in- 

 spectorship, a visit to an assembly of farmers 

 discussing their own affairs will soon cure him 

 of any illusions on this subject. When the 

 Prime Minister made his famous speech to 

 farmers at the Caxton Hall in 19 19, the state- 

 ments which evoked the highest enthusiasm 

 were those which hinted at decontrol and the 

 desire on the part of farmers to be let alone to 

 manage their own affairs. Yet it is into the 

 hands of these very farmers who are clamouring 

 for decontrol, who are letting land go back to 

 grass, who are avowedly treating the land not 

 in a way to ensure its greatest productivity, but 

 to reap the greatest profit — to these very men, 

 aided by colleagues who are non-agriculturists 

 sitting on County Councils, that the Govern- 

 ment has entrusted the enforcement of the rules 

 of good husbandry and the provision of small 

 holdings for both ex-soldiers and civilians. 



No one was more conscious than Mr. Lloyd 

 George himself that he was playing to the 

 gallery — his gallery at his Caxton Hall matinee 

 being packed with landowners and farmers — 

 when he said that landowners and farmers had 

 displayed a splendid patriotism in the War ; 

 just as Mr. Lloyd George was conscious of 

 playing to the gallery — his gallery then con- 

 sisting of labourers — at the entertaining nights 

 at Bedford and elsewhere during the great 



