WHAT OF THE HARVEST ? 315 



The Minority Report recommended. 



" That farmers be informed that they shall be left free to 

 cultivate their land in such manner as they deem best, in accord- 

 ance with the rules of good husbandry. 



" That the Boards of Agriculture organise an efficient system 

 of distribution of all available information relating to the pro- 

 gress and prospects of agriculture, with special reference to the 

 course of world prices. 



'" That, so long as prices of cereals are controlled by the 

 Government, the farmers be paid at prices not less than those 

 at which commodities can be imported." 



It also accentuated the need for further report on security 

 of tenure and other matters. 



The Majority Report was signed by Sir William B. 

 Peat (Chairman), Sir William Ashley, and Messrs. Charles 

 Douglas, G. G. Rea, W. Anker Simmons, H. Overman, 

 A. Batchelor, H. S. Cautley, E. W. Langford, George Nich- 

 olls, E. H. Parker, and Rowland R. Robbins. The Minority 

 Report was signed by Messrs. Arthur W. Ashby, George 

 Dallas, Joseph F. Duncan, William Edwards, F. E. Green, 

 J. M. Henderson, Thomas Henderson, Thomas P. Jones, 

 Reginald Lennard, Walter R. Smith, and R. B. Walker. 



I was convinced, both by the evidence and by my own 

 personal knowledge, that the plough which drove its share 

 through the grass-land in war time was not drawn by the 

 team of guaranteed prices for wheat and oats, but by the 

 petrol power of Compulsory Orders. Writing as a member 

 of the Commission I may say that the whole problem of 

 guaranteed prices resolved itself into a psychological one. 

 The prices that farmers received for their corn were, 

 and still are, high above the guaranteed prices of the 

 Act ; but the fear that the world's prices might 

 drop considerably in a short time was honestly felt by a 

 great number of uneducated farmers, who had been fright- 

 ened by stories of vast stretches of golden grain in Siberia ; 

 of plains of luxuriant wheat watered by the Euphrates 

 and Tigris ; of giant granaries of grain waiting for ship- 

 ment on the seaboard of the Argentine prairies, sedulously 

 circulated by interested propagandists. The more en- 

 lightened and progressive farmers showed greater keen- 



