WHAT OF THE HARVEST ? 313 



the Forty-eight Hours Bill ; and it was evidently their 

 policy to place on the shoulders of the Commission not only 

 the onus of fixing the guaranteed prices, but also the hours 

 of employment. 



Naturally, the Labour members on the Commission felt 

 that they had been led into a political trap. Their repre- 

 sentatives had already fought and won the battle on the 

 Industrial Council, and they had no intention of fighting 

 it over again ; at any rate, they considered it an unjusti- 

 fiable act on the part of the Government to alter the terms 

 of reference without proper notification. In this the 

 farmers and economists sitting on the Commission loyally 

 supported their colleagues. Furthermore, the whole Com- 

 mission, with one exception, intimated to the Board of Agri- 

 culture, that, in spite of its protestation, they considered it 

 their duty to enquire into security of tenure, if they had to 

 consider the " economic prospects " of the agricultural 

 industry. 



It became evident that neither Mr. Lloyd George nor 

 Lord Lee appreciated the independent spirit shown by the 

 members of the Commission. This was shown in the speech 

 which was delivered by the Prime Minister at Caxton Hall, 

 and by statements made by officers of the Board, to the 

 effect that the Commission were responsible for checking 

 the hand of the sower in putting in the Michaelmas corn. 

 The Government had intimated they wanted an Interim 

 Report by September though the first sitting of the Commis- 

 sion to take evidence did not take place until August 5, and 

 the Commission had to cover the whole field of the cost of 

 production with all the data available. Delay had been caused 

 by the questionable political manoeuvres of the Govern- 

 ment ; but even without the delay accountants agreed 

 that neither the Costings Committee appointed by the 

 Government nor the farmers had sufficient costings data 

 to justify any report being made before the end of the year. 



As the Commission proceeded it became obvious to those 

 Government officials who followed the printed evidence 

 carefully, that the majority of the Commission might 

 declare against guaranteed prices. Mr. Lloyd George 



