74 THE MINORITY REPORT 



the Committee since that time. The Majority still 

 recognise to the full the great importance to the Nation 

 of the object set out in them. So do we. But with 

 the exception of the Chairman they do not beheve those 

 objects to be capable of attainment in time to afford 

 employment for ex-Service men. We do, if the steps 

 we advise are adopted as a whole. The note which 

 the Chairman attaches to the Majority Report by way 

 of reservation to his signature shows clearly that he 

 accepts the principles upon which the Minority Report 

 is founded. 



The Chairman in his note said that he had signed the 

 Majority Report in deference to the views of the Majority, 

 but that in his opinion it did not emphasise sufficiently *' the 

 magnitude and urgency of the opportimity now offered." 

 The development of dairying and stock breeding during the 

 last thirty years, to which the Majority referred, had not, in 

 his opinion, compensated for the serious decrease in cereal 

 crops. He continues : 



" Whatever may have been the case in the past, the lessons 

 of the present war may well convince us that a country that 

 has to depend on importation for four-fifths of its bread- 

 stuffs is not in a sound position, either from the military or 

 the economic point of view. When we add to these con- 

 siderations the weighty social and hygienic arguments for 

 increasing the number of our rural population, we are led to 

 the conclusion that it is essential in the national welfare 

 to bring back to the land as many ex-Service men as can 

 be permanently employed there under suitable conditions. 

 If the Government decide to adopt this policy, they should 

 lose no time in introducing the necessary legislation to give 

 effect to it, so as to secure additional emplojnnent on the 

 land, and a substantial increase in the home production of 

 food." 



5. It became apparent to the Committee at an early 

 stage that our inquiry into the employment of ex- 



