294 PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 



has been realised and the great improvements that were made in 

 this direction in the years immediately preceding the war, will 

 doubtless be continued in the future. 1 The high degree of pros- 

 perity which the Overseas Dominions have enjoyed during the 

 war a condition that may well continue for some time in the 

 future will make it possible for them to develop their resources 

 and to provide the amenities of civilisation at a more [rapid rate 

 than in the past. The great difficulty, however, in the years follow- 

 ing the war may be to find emigrants of agricultural training that 

 can be spared from the United Kingdom, where the numbers of 

 agricultural workers tended to fall short of requirements even in 

 the years prior to the war. It is generally agreed that it is of 

 urgent importance to increase the agricultural output of the British 

 Isles, but this cannot be done without additional supplies of labour. 

 If these islands are drained heavily of agricultural workers by 

 emigration to the Dominions, the position of the Empire in agri- 

 cultural production may not be greatly improved, except in so far 

 as the net output per worker may be greater in the Dominions on 

 an average than in the United Kingdom. It would appear that in 

 order to solve the problem, some redistribution of the Empire's 

 man-power is required, whereby the proportion of agricultural 

 workers may be increased at the expense of that engaged in other 

 than agricultural pursuits. 2 



One prominent cause which, in the past, has operated against a 

 more rapid increase in the population engaged in agricultural 

 industries in the temperate parts of the Empire, is the great extent 

 of the mining industries. The Empire's surplus in coal, for example, 

 is just as striking as its deficiency in animal foodstuffs. The pro- 

 portion of male primary producers engaged in mining and kindred 

 industries in Australia, South Africa, Canada and even New Zealand 

 is high relative to that engaged in agricultural production. In 

 Great Britain the number of persons employed in the coal mining 

 industry alone was in 1911 about three-quarters of that employed 

 in agriculture. It is true that mining has served to attract popula- 

 tion to the outlying Dominions, in greater numbers than would 

 perhaps otherwise have been the case ; nevertheless, it is a fact 

 that the present proportion of the population withdrawn from 

 agriculture by mining industries is unfavourable to the production 

 of foodstuffs in sufficient quantities to cover the requirements of 

 the Empire ; and owing to its resources in minerals and metals, 

 the Empire's mining industries are likely, on the whole, to expand 

 rather than to decline in the future. 



It is clear that, in view of the land resources available to the 

 white people of the British Empire, they have neglected the business 



1 In this connection see the recommendations made by the Dominions 

 Commission in their Final Report (Cd. 8462), Chap. ix. 



2 Any increase in the use of labour-saving plant and machinery in the 

 production and transport of foodstuffs within the Empire would, of course, 

 tend to lessen the difficulties under this head. 



