66 Agriculture and the Communtt}). 



the end it is to work towards. That is a political question 

 in which the whole nation is involved, and it is not a 

 question to be settled only by those most directly interested 

 in the industry. I believe that the nation will be compelled 

 by force of circumstances to accept responsibility for the 

 industry, and will set itself to develop agriculture as a 

 definite public service, and it is in that belief that I put 

 forward the proposals which follow. 



The Administrative Authorities. 



If the community is to assume responsibility for the 

 agricultural industry it must create machinery which will 

 be capable of exercising effective control. Any suggestions 

 to this end will at once raise the cry of bureaucracy, and 

 amongst no class is there greater antipathy to officialdom 

 than amongst agriculturists. It is natural that this 

 should be so. There is little organisation in the industry. 

 It consists of small units worked according to the wills of 

 a multitude of small capitalists. They are each of them 

 supreme in their limited spheres, and such officials as 

 have been appointed, appear to them as extraneous and 

 unnecessary persons who come in to interfere with the 

 work of those engaged in the business. Where these 

 officials can be used to serve the ends of landlords, farmers, 

 or workers, they are readily accepted, but when they 

 intervene to serve the ends of the community, they are 

 objected to as unnecessary, expensive and bureaucratic. 

 From time to time we have an outcry against the horde 

 of officials in agriculture, and imposing lists are drawn up, 

 and the expenditure on the Ministry of Agriculture and 



