FARMING AND FOXHUNTING 



farmer to make a living, are so pinched at every 

 point that they cannot maintain their property to 

 a state of efficiency v^hich will allow the poor tenant 

 to make even a living. 



To me something seems to have gone wrong in 

 our twentieth-century statesmanship which has 

 brought this state of affairs about. Estate Duties 

 are all very well, but surely they should not be 

 imposed to such an extent which will eventually 

 destroy the fabric of the country-side. At the 

 moment of writing my mind travels back to my 

 visit to Germany where I saw reconditioning of 

 farm property going forward in real earnest. When 

 I asked for an explanation of the various schemes 

 in progress, I was informed that money spent on 

 country property did not fmd its way into the 

 National exchequer, and therefore the landlord got 

 busy on his property. 



Let us just look at another object lesson where 

 we see this nationalization of the land in progress. 

 I quote Russia. There we see the State making a 

 very poor eflbrt to increase output by placing the 

 land in direct occupation of the peasant, and a poor 

 job he makes of it. I am not going to suggest that 

 by doing so in England we should suffer such an 

 upheaval as they have in Russia, but I am sure 

 that the less regimentation we receive from officials, 

 which would be the outcome of land nationalization, 

 the more happy conditions of country life shall we 

 enjoy. 



I am not so sure that our neighbour France can 

 claim better agricultural conditions than we enjoy 



ii6 



