334 POSSIBILITIES OF THE SITUATION 



or other lines akin thereto, because one cannot doubt 

 that public opinion would strongly support the adop- 

 tion of such a step. The discussions which have arisen 

 in so many different quarters on the subject of land 

 settlement ; the various schemes advanced from time to 

 time ; the deputations that have gone abroad to study 

 foreign conditions ; the spirit of inquiry that has been 

 awakened throughout the land ; the publication of so 

 many and such excellent periodicals which deal with 

 every possible phase of agricultural or country life, and 

 penetrate to the dwelling of practically every farmer or 

 cultivator; the springing up of a new generation of 

 men prepared to adopt new ideas, to work on scientific 

 principles, and to accept the advantages that combined 

 effort opens out to them ; the actual developments 

 that have already taken place in the fruit and other 

 industries all these things show that the time is fully 

 ripe for a revival of confidence in rural pursuits, and 

 that any Government which took the subject in hand, 

 and dealt with it on efficient lines, would have the 

 hearty support of the British people. 



There is certainly scope for the assistance also of 

 local authorities in the carrying out of a National 

 Agricultural Policy such as that here suggested. The 

 item in respect to which they could afford the greatest 

 help is the matter of local rates ; and by this I mean, 

 not simply the shifting of burdens from one class of the 

 community to another not simply a reduction in the 

 assessment on glass-houses, and a corresponding in- 

 crease in the assessment on something else but an 

 actual reduction in the local expenditure, allowing of a 

 financial improvement all round. Especially could 

 that reduction be effected in regard to the policy of 

 carrying out in rural centres what are, in effect, urban 

 improvements, often involving both an outlay that is 



