73 



have a chance of looking forward to the time when he will be his own 

 landlord, because if he has that ambition he will put his best into the 

 land. 



MR. W. B. NEVILLE (Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society) : We are 

 all anxious to see a larger number of people employed in the open air, 

 and to stop the drift from the countryside to the town, but if we have 

 large farms the number of people employed will most certainly not be 

 increased. I prefer a system of small holdings, co-operatively arranged 

 and administered, or, if you like, supervised by a Government Depart- 

 ment. The absence of compulsion in agricultural administration will 

 have to be remedied. To-day the farmer can grow what he likes, 

 or, if he likes, let the land go out of cultivation or use it for pleasure, 

 and there is no Government Department to say that he shall not do 

 so. Agricultural reformers tell us that we cannot make a man grow 

 this or that, and that it would be impossible to apply compulsion. 

 But during the war this is the only industry where compulsion has not 

 been applied on a large scale. If the millers are told what to do, and the 

 bakers, who turn the produce of the farmer into food, what to bake, 

 then it is all the more necessary that we should see that the farmer 

 grows what the country desires. 



ME. A. STACEY (Mexboro' Trades Council) : The whole solution lies 

 in removing the influence of the landlord. In many districts the terms 

 of the tenancy impose conditions as to cropping the land upon farmers. 

 The landlord has no right to decide the crop to be grown, and under 

 State control he would have to be satisfied with fixing the rent only. 

 The land should be used from the point of view of the people, and not 

 from that of those who simply draw the rents. 



MR. H. E. CLAY (Leeds Trades Council) : I am rather struck by Mr. 

 Orwin's point that we could not produce all the food we required, 

 but that we could adopt a system which would allow of modifications to 

 enable us to meet a crisis like the present one. I do not know what 

 position Mr. Orwin takes up as to whether it would not, after all, be 

 better as an alternative to use those portions of the world which are 

 best adapted for growing certain things, placing such regions under 

 international control. 



MR. ORWIN'S REPLY. 



Mr. Morley's opinions and mine are really not very wide apart, as 

 nearly everything that can be carried out with small holdings can be 

 carried out by large scale production. Nationalisation I will not touch 

 upon. As regards freehold : if you imagine farmers going into farms 

 of 5,000 or 10,000 acres, surely the first thing they would want would 

 be the freehold : a combination of individuals to work an industrial 



