Politics and the Land 



Chamber, its business committee and parUa- 

 mentary committee." 



I am glad that the second clause was 

 embodied in that resolution, as it made it 

 possible to take immediate steps to strengthen 

 the cause of agriculture in the political world. 

 There can be no doubt that the agitation has 

 done much good to the cause, and that the 

 House of Commons is paying more attention to 

 agricultural affairs than it has done for many 

 years. But even the moderate proposal that 

 all rural constituencies should be represented 

 by agriculturists is not viewed with favour by 

 the professional politician, and when it is a 

 question of a full-fledged agricultural party 

 their hostility knows no limits. 



Naturally the sound party man dislikes the for- 

 mation of groups, but if the dual party system 

 is dying, and groups are forming by degrees, 

 what course is left to the agriculturist save in 

 the end to form a group himself ? 



But there can be no immediate question of 

 the formation of an independent party ; it costs 

 money to form a party — more money than 

 agriculturists will at present subscribe. But 

 that, apart from financial considerations, it 

 might be quite possible to form an indepen- 

 dent agricultural party, Mr. Matthews, the 

 able secretary of the Central Chamber of 

 Agriculture, shows in his carefully-reasoned 



307 



