INCREASE OF OUTPUT 113 



and greater surprises in any future war. It is in order 

 that the naval and miHtary forces may have time to 

 cope with surprises that an increased production of 

 food within these islands is so important. 



49. It is generally agreed by the leading authorities 

 on agriculture that a large increase in the output of the 

 land is practicable in this country, and would be readily 

 effected by the enterprising farmer if he were only 

 secured more stable prices for his produce in the future 

 than have prevailed during the past forty years. Mr. 

 Prothero, writing in 1912, said : — " Thousands of acres 

 of tillage and grass land are comparatively wasted,, 

 under-farmed, and under-manned. Countries whose 

 cUmate is severer than our own, and in which poorer 

 soils are cultivated, produce far more from the land 

 than ourselves. The gross receipts per cultivated area 

 in Great Britain have been calculated at only one- 

 fifth of those of Belgium and two-thirds of those of 

 Denmark." ^ 



50. The inquiries undertaken last year by the Depart- 

 mental Committee ' presided over by Lord Milner, and 

 the similar Committees for Scotland and for Ireland, 

 have made it unnecessary for us to conduct any exhaus- 

 tive examination into the means for increasing the home 

 production of foodstuffs. 



Lord Milner's Committee was appointed " to consider 

 what steps should be taken for maintaining and, if 

 possible, increasing the present production of food in 

 England and Wales on the assumption that the war 



1 English Farming, p. 401. 



a See their Interim Report (Cd. 8048) and Final Report (Cd. 

 8096). 



