AN ENQUIRY. 21 



and (2), tliat even if lie could, it would not pay 

 liim so Avell as it does now to sell the milk 

 instead of to convert it into clieese or butter. 

 This is speaking generally, although we admit 

 that there is a limited room for more British 

 butter and cheese of the " best " class. That, 

 however, only touches the fringe of the great 

 industry of agriculture ; and organisation for that 

 particular purpose will not much improve 

 matters. The farmer might, perhaps, combine 

 to sell his milk at a higher price, but that, of 

 course, is another matter, and the public would 

 be the first to complain of his '' organised 

 monopoly " in a necessary article of food. 

 In regard to milk-selling, the British farmer 

 at the present time makes practically no com- 

 plaint, except on the score of the railway rates 

 being too high. 



As to wool, the importations of this raw 

 material have increased enormously, nameh', 

 from 084,014,000 lb. per annum in 1875-77, to 

 599,509,732 lb. in 1903. A good part of the 

 imports, it may be admitted, is again exported. 

 Most of the wool comes from our Australian 

 Colonies, and even though, as is the fact, the 

 greater quantity of the wool received from such 

 Colonies is merino — a variety which only in- 

 directl}" affects the value of British and Irish 

 wools — yet, in consequence of the diminished 

 proportion of the production of the United King- 

 dom to the whole supply, there has been, and is, 

 a displacement of the latter by the increasing 



