AGRICUI.Tl RAL DRAMATIS PERSONS 19 



THE CENTRAL LANDOWNLlls' ASSOCIATION 



Landowners tliemselvcs stand in need of combination 

 just as much as any other section of agriculturists ; they 

 must unite if they are to lead the industry and safeguard 

 its interests. In 1904 the writer, in association with 

 several other landowners who were feeling the need for 

 such combination, took measures to secure the creation of 

 the Central Landowners' Association. Under the intelli- 

 gent leadership of the late Lord Onslow as chairman, and 

 Charles Bathurst, now Lord Bledisloe, the Association 

 soon became a power in politics — but it remained small 

 in numbers until about two years ago when it began 

 to expand rapidly. 



In 1909 the Land Union was formed and they have quite 

 distinct spheres. The Land Union stands primarily for 

 urban landowners, the Central Landowners' Association 

 for agricultural owners. The Land Union is essentially 

 a fighting body ; it defends its members, attacks existing 

 abuses as they affect landowners — it is really a Property 

 Defence Society. The Central Landowners' Association 

 has other aims ; being a body with wide experience of 

 land problems it seeks rather to take preventive measures, 

 and to guide legislation affecting land on right lines. It 

 recognizes that the landowner should not put up a fight 

 merely for his own sectional interests ; that his claim tor 

 the consideration of his fellow-citizens lies in the fact that 

 he takes a broad and national view, and tiiat his object is 

 the development of the agricultural industry as a whole. 



THE FARMER 



The English farmer is, and for a good many generations 

 lias been, an individualist of the most pronounced kind. 



