70 THE MINORITY REPORT 



same period the dairy industry has been considerably deve- 

 loped to meet the growing needs of the town population, and 

 there has also been an increase of more than one-third in the 

 number of cattle kept for meat production, while the number 

 of sheep kept has been almost maintained. There is no 

 doubt, however, that the shrinkage of the area under the 

 plough has caused a considerable reduction in agricultural 

 employment. 



" 180. While a good deal of the afore-mentioned 3 J million 

 acres has, by the course of time and the more general use of 

 artificial manures, become valuable pasture, and further 

 areas are becoming so, we have had evidence that there 

 remains a large area of inferior grass which could with advan- 

 tage be brought under the plough, provided steps were taken 

 to give stability to the prices obtainable for arable produce 

 so as to make the conversion remunerative." 



2. The problem referred to the Committee for solu- 

 tion was " to advise what steps can be taken to promote 

 the employment on the land of sailors and soldiers on 

 discharge." The smaller part of this problem consists 

 in making good the wastage of agricultural labour 

 caused by the war ; the larger part in making room 

 in agriculture for the employment of many more men 

 than were engaged in it before the war. Successfully 

 to solve either part of the problem two things are 

 essential. Firstly, the conditions of the life must 

 be made good enough to attract the ex-sailor and ex- 

 soldier ; secondly, the policy must be carried out in 

 time. 



The Majority fail in both these essentials. They 

 fear the difficulties, and in the result refuse to touch the 

 question of remuneration to agricultural labour — ^a 

 refusal which would, in our belief, be fatal to success ; 

 and, on the critical issue of time, they throw up the 

 sponge. In paragraph 178 they say "that, if de- 

 mobilisation were spread over a large number of 



