IDENTITY OF INTERESTS 165 



This subject is not only fundamental to the individual ; 

 it marks the difference between the Chambers of Agriculture 

 and various other societies which have been from time to 

 time called into existence.* The founders of the Chambers 

 started with the perfectly sound theorjr that the Association 

 was necessary to the promotion of the welfare of agriculture. 

 They declined to split up those engaged in that industry 

 into sections, or to work for one section to the exclusion, 

 or at any rate to the detriment, of others. They wisely 

 assumed that the interests of all classes engaged in that 

 industty were identical, and that their organisation must be 

 weak and incomplete (a house divided against itself) unless 

 membership were open to all concerned on equal terms. 

 The result has been the harmonious association in one society 

 of landlord and tenant for fifty years. The third section, 

 the labourers, have been precluded, by insuperable economic 

 circumstances, from taking an active part in the work ; but 

 they are not specifically barred from membership, and indeed 

 some of the local societies do number labourers among their 

 members, | 



Other organisations proceed on the assumption that the 

 interests of the different sections are antagonistic. They 

 contend that the farmer wants to pay as low a rent as 

 possible, while the owner wants to get as high a rent as he 

 can. How, then, they ask, can their interests be identical ? 

 Those who originated the Chambers said : "If any antagonism 



* The National Agricultural Union was an exception. See page 

 379. 



f For the information of those who are not acquainted with the 

 machinery of the Chambers, it may be said that the Council is composed 

 of deputies from local Chambers in addition to 24 members of Council 

 nominated by the Central Chamber. Local Associations may elect 

 one deputy for each fifty members by paying an association fee at the 

 rate of 3 per annum for each deputy. The majority send one, but 

 some send three or four each. At present the total membership of 

 the Council is about 190. The average attendance at Council meetings 

 is 90 ; a very high percentage, considering that some deputies have to 

 travel two or three hundred miles each way. Exact figures cannot 

 be given, but the Council now includes landowners, tenants, land 

 agents, and professional men and retired farmers or agents. It will 

 be seen from this note that the statement sometimes made that the 

 Central Chamber is a landlords' body is demoristrably incorrect. 



