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farm would require this before putting in their capital. As to co-opera- 

 tive organisation : this, I think, would have a better effect on large 

 than on small farms ; the hay-making machinery could not be used 

 all the time, of course, but the one-acre man is obviously at a disadvan- 

 tage compared with the 500-acre man ; and if you have 500 one-acre 

 men you would have to move the machines about from place to place, 

 to an extent not necessary on a large farm, and thus lose a great 

 many quarter-days. Co-operative organisation could be just as 

 successful on large farms as on small holdings. As to the French 

 holdings : I had a conversation with a Belgian gentleman connected 

 with the Ministry of Agriculture in Brussels before the war, who 

 told me that the best element in the Flemish population was the 

 small-holders they were no trouble at all, and were a very tine 

 race. * But,' he said, ' in another 50 years there will be none. In 

 England you have your manufacturing industries and your Colonies, 

 and you cannot hope to extend small holdings for that reason. 

 Our people are brought up to work on small holdings, but as soon as 

 they realise what can be done with an emigration ticket, we shall lose 

 the lot." I am still of the same opinion as to housing. I am sure 

 it is a question of putting the agricultural labourer into such a position 

 that he can pay an ordinary rent for a house. As to the question of 

 policy in dealing with the farmer : the report of Lord Milner's Com- 

 mittee of 1915 on the Increase of Food Production was the first occasion 

 when guaranteed prices were recommended, and in that report the 

 suggestion was made that, if this policy were carried out, the whole 

 of the land of the country should be scheduled and farmers should be 

 instructed as to what they should produce ; but such a policy could 

 not be adopted without giving the farmer some guarantee. As to the 

 landlord question : two hundred years ago landlords played a bigger 

 part than they do now, and that is the explanation of those clauses 

 in farm agreements telling the farmer how he must farm, to which 

 one speaker took exception. Originally they were not framed with 

 the intention of restriction, as the landlord was then the best farmer 

 in the district, and he was simply giving the tenant the benefit of- his 

 experience and helping him to the best advantage. Although there 

 are plenty of good landlords nowadays (which is a fact that some people 

 overlook) we know perfectly well that, taking them on the whole, 

 thev do not occupy the same position in agriculture to-day. The last 

 Agricultural Holdings Act removed the effect of that clause 

 restricting cropping, and at the present time the farmer has absolute 

 liberty to grow on his land what he pleases. The landlord is, as a matter 

 of fact, in rather a curious position : he is being told to play a larger 

 part in agriculture, and yet, on the other hand, every change in legisla- 

 tion makes it more and more difficult for him to take any active part 

 in agricultural development. I am sorry that speakers did not deal with 

 the question of a policy for the nation with regard to stimulating pro- 

 duction. I hoped that some of you would have dealt with the question 

 of guaranteed prices, and subsidies, and other unsound things which 



