FARMING AND FOXHUNTING 



Mr. Bown's long term of faithful service, described 

 him as a man who possessed the strong virtue of 

 silence. Why ? I will give you the answer : because 

 he never prescribed until he was called in and then 

 was seldom found wanting. 



As a farmer it was fitting that I should be given 

 work to do on practically all the Agricultural Com- 

 mittees. Of these I think the one which has 

 absorbed most of my time and thereby my interest 

 is the Small Holdings Committee. Before I became 

 a member of the Council I was invited to be a 

 co-opted member for the Northern Division, but 

 refused on the grounds that I was very doubtful of 

 the wisdom of putting men into small holdings on 

 the very promiscuous prospects of farming following 

 the Great War. But eventually my mind began to 

 revolve in a wider circle and then I soon began to 

 realize that some programme of this nature was a 

 social necessity if the farming community were to 

 keep step with the accepted principles of our Demo- 

 cratic National Constitution. 



To-day under our National principles is there not 

 a clear path for the Board schoolboy to reach the 

 university and likewise a possibility of the Army 

 private to wield the field-marshal's baton ? If 

 these principles are sound, and I believe they are, 

 then the employee on the land must have his equal 

 chance to reach the heights of a landed proprietor, 

 provided he has the natural ability to do so. 



Having these views in my mind it will be difficult 

 to dissuade me from taking every opportunity to 

 work for the Small Holders' welfare and to try to 



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