3i6 LAND REFORM 



** I think the most economical thing for the country 

 to do would be to make the small farmer, the small 

 holder, as numerous as possible, and to do it as soon 

 as possible. ... I think we ought, as far as we can, 

 to increase in every way the small holdings in the 

 country and get the agriculturist to be his own master 

 . . . same as they do in France and Germany, and 

 then we should have a certain supply at home more 

 than we have now." ^ 



As if to complete these answers and to point out 

 their practical character, another witness, an experi- 

 enced agriculturist, stated : — 



" Thousands of acres now practically producing 

 nothing, which with wheat at a paying price would 

 come again under the plough. ... A great deal of 

 land has never been laid down, it has simply tumbled 

 down, and has been left to assume its own pasture. I 

 have walked over hundreds of farms I may say in the 

 last twenty years, and I cannot call it anything but 

 moss and poor herbage . . . and notwithstanding this, 

 the aggregate number of sheep, cattle, and pigs is 

 about two and a half million less than it was about 

 thirty years ago. This shows what we have lost in 

 grain has not been made up in animal food." ^ 



It is to be regretted that the Commissioners did not 

 consider the question from the standpoint of such 

 evidence as this and give us their conclusions respect- 

 ing it. To do so, no doubt, would be to face the 

 fiscal question, but that question should have been 

 considered quite apart from the opinions of individual 

 members on the merits of free imports. It would be 

 satisfactory to the public if they had been told by the 



^ Evidence of Sir Alfred Jones. Vol. II, p. 206. 

 "^ Evidence of Alfred Mansell. Vol. II, p. 308. 



