NATIONAL COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURE 125 



find money for land purchase. The interest 

 on Land Bonds would be paid out of the rents 

 received from tenant-farmers, occupiers of 

 country houses, and from rents paid to the 

 nation by Guilds of Agriculturists working 

 under County Committees. 



At so great a rate would production increase 

 if land were to be properly cultivated by col- 

 lective effort, possessing advantages of superior 

 machinery, brains, and skilled manual labour, 

 that the interest payable to the holders of 

 Land Bonds would soon become a mere 

 bagatelle compared to the wealth obtained 

 from the soil. A great deal of the agricultural 

 land in England, owing to bad equipment, to 

 the gratification of the lust for game, or to 

 other social reasons, has been let below its 

 economic value. When nationalised, that land 

 will become productive of its real economic 

 value. 



Assuming that we have full powers to 

 dispossess immediately both landowners and 

 farmers who are not cultivating their land 

 properly, and to acquire such land at the 

 assessment value, then we could with a licjht 



9 o 



heart begin putting the buildings in order, and 

 such farms would naturally be managed by 

 County Agricultural Committees, and would 

 be placed under the care of farm managers 

 selected for their capacity to farm, whether they 

 have been farmers or agricultural labourers. 



