220 



reaches a definite practical basis of utility. 



It is not in the quantity of money spent in propa- 

 ganda, nor the salaries of the experts contracted from 

 all parts of the globe, nor in the well-intentioned efforts 

 of one Minister alone, but in persisting along one line 

 of conduct even if contrary to certain vested interests, 

 until something definite results. At present, by com- 

 prising every phase of agricultural enterprise in the 

 scope of its labours, by attending to every shade of opi- 

 nion (home and foreign) as to what could be done, far 

 too much is attempted at once, and in the plethora of 

 good council we are steadily drifting to ruin. 



One has only to look back through the annals of 

 (MI;- Ministry of Agriculture to appreciate the enormous 

 amount of wasted efforts: there is scarcely one solitary 

 project which has been definitely incorporated into our 

 farming practices. 



The understanding of the problems from a practi- 

 cal standpoint is what is required in the majority of 

 cases. 



Ministers and officials, year in and out, recognise 

 certain failings, but where are the attempts persistent 

 enough to remedy them practically? 



How can we explain satisfactorily the diffidence 

 over Elevators after the statements made by various 

 Ministers of Agriculture regarding their utility? 



If such statements were not based 011 sound cal- 

 culations, were the results of faulty observation, how 

 is it that no refutation has taken place, and if on the 

 other hand the truth has been stated, how can we ex- 

 plain that no further efforts have been- made 'to push 

 the matter to a logical conclusion? Surely such a v.ork 

 (MM responds to the one body to which, nominally, the 

 interests of the farmer are confided. 



In regard to supervising the interests of the farm- 

 er the Ministry of Agriculture stands condemned in 

 its own utterances. 



It knows the weaknesses of our agriculture, has a 

 remedy at hand for them, yet does nothing to push its 

 application . 



Many are the weaknesses in our cereal farming 

 system but I believe it is universally admitted that the 

 fundamental weakness is its unnecessarily wasteful 

 ways of working, and in the suppression of these was- 

 tages lies the solution of many problems apparently 

 without remedy to-day. 



The recovery, through more efficient methods, of 

 the sums wasted through uneconomical ways of work- 



