98 THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE 



Mr John Burns, who took part in one of the meetings 

 of the Imperial Conference at the Colonial Office on 

 April 25, proposed: 



" That it is desirable to encourage British emigrants 

 to proceed to British Colonies rather than Foreign 

 countries; and that the Imperial Government be re- 

 quested to co-operate with any Colonies desiring immi- 

 grants in assisting suitable persons to emigrate." 



And the Conference passed the resolution unani- 

 mously. 



Here, then, we have two notable examples of how 

 statesmen regard this matter. 



Firstly, we have the Leader of the Opposition en- 

 couraging belief in the selfsame remedial measures that 

 have persistently failed the country for more than half 

 a century ; and then we find a Cabinet Minister suggest- 

 ing the only remedy he can think of — the suicidal course 

 of emigration — as a solution of the problem. 



Let us consider Mr Balfour's extraordinary statement 

 that: 



" They [the Government] increased the difficulty by 

 bringing people, in the ordinary phrase, back to the 

 land," etc. 



"Back to Now, of all charges that may be brought against the 

 Government of the day by the party out of power, this 

 surely is the most remarkable for its utter feebleness. 

 How on earth are we to have agriculture unless we begin 

 by putting people on the land? 



How are we to increase and develop it unless we 

 supply it with workers? 



