56 



AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION 



The sum total of the figures in the last column is 

 £132,721,279. 



It will be seen that the largest item in the table is in respect 

 to imports of wheat, the value of which amounted to, in 

 round figures, £39,000,000, and that the next largest item is 

 for butter, which was imported to the extent of £24,600,000. 

 One must, however, remember that when the British farmer 

 can get a good market in some urban centre for his new milk, 

 it pays him better to dispose of it in that form than to 

 attempt to compete with the foreigner in turning his cream 

 into butter. It should further be remembered (1) that 

 many of the commodities imported could not be produced 

 at all in this country ; (2) that others come to us at a time 

 when, owing to the difference in seasons, our own supplies 

 are not yet ready ; (3) that we could not meet the whole 

 of our requirements in regard even to necessaries within the 

 range of our climatic or other conditions ; and (4) that in 

 the increase of our output in commodities which we could, 

 and should, produce on a large scale for ourselves a great 

 work can be done by agricultural organisation. 



Still more important is the fact that, although wheat 

 production has greatly declined in the United Kingdom, 

 increased attention is being paid in this country — under the 



