PREFACE 



WE have been a land-ignorant race — and yet 

 we are all dependent upon the land, the towns- 

 man as well as the countryman. It is not a 

 question requiring the consideration and the votes of 

 only the rural population ; the urban population holds 

 the predominant voting power. Therefore a sound 

 land policy can only be hoped for when, in the first place, 

 the townsman understands something about the land, 

 and, secondly, when he is capable of thinking correctly 

 . , about it. So this book is not intended in any way as a 

 ^ technical treatise on Agriculture ; rather is the object 

 ^ to lay stress upon the vast importance of Land as our 

 c greatest Imperial and National asset, and to show that if 

 •^ the permanent consolidation of the Empire is to be 

 ^ achieved this can only be effected by giving the necessary 

 . care and thought to the development of our land resources. 

 j5 It is therL£ssential for this purpose to consider the land 

 '^ of the Empire as a whole, rather than piecemeal in its 

 •^ different geographical parts. And inseparably inter- 

 •^ woven with the Land problem is the human side — the 

 question of the cultivator of the soil and the conditions 

 under which he should live. 



This great twofold problem of the land and the people 

 has never really received the consideration it should by 

 the people of the Anglo-Saxon race. And herein lies 

 the root of the evil. 



In other civilized countries the townspeople realize 



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