184 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



in all the main necessaries of life constitutes the 

 gravest indictment of the policy (or rather want of 

 policy) of the Imperial and Dominion Governments 

 in regard to the development of our land and our 

 agricultural resources. 



A tour of the Empire must impress the traveller 

 vi^ith the boundless natural resources of our land, also 

 alas, if he uses his powers of observation, with the 

 criminal waste on all sides. The area of land is so limit- 

 less ! consequently little thought of, and wasted. Our 

 forests were so vast — why conserve the timber ? And so 

 it was wasted ; yet in many cases it cannot be replaced, 

 for it was the growth of centuries. All this natural wealth 

 and no comprehensive policy to develop it ; milHons 

 of pounds spent in developing other countries, that should 

 have been used to build up our own goodly heritage ! 



The fact is that few politicians in the Empire are 

 qualified to deal with great questions of national and 

 imperial economics ; and the capable few are over- 

 whelmed with the routine work of their office and have 

 no time for these problems. 



Our home officials have not sufficient knowledge to 

 be of much assistance ; how few of them personally 

 know anything of the Empire save the part they live in } 

 This criticism applies to the officials in the Dominion 

 Governments just as much as to those at home. These 

 men may be capable of carrying out a policy, but not of 

 devising one. They lack breadth of knowledge. 



So that we come to this — our politicians can do little, 

 and our Government departments can do even less, in 

 the way of formulating the land development policy 

 which is so essential. Every month of ' ' drift " without 

 the needed policy means incalculable loss to the 

 Empire ; a present loss and a still greater future loss. 



