124 THE MINORITY REPORT 



68. In some quarters the Compulsory Breaking-up 

 of Grass Land is suggested. Measures of compulsion 

 would not, however, in our opinion, be right unless 

 the State were prepared either — 



(a) by one or other of the means above indicated, 

 or otherwise, to make arable cultivation 

 profitable to the farmer ; or 



(h) to pay him, and, in some cases, his landlord, 

 any compensation that might be judged 

 equitable by an independent assessor. 



The only possible alternative in many cases would 

 be for the State to take over the land at a valuation, 

 and make arrangements for its being broken up and 

 cultivated. But it would hardly be possible to deal 

 with small parcels of inferior pasture under such a 

 scheme, and it would be expensive and might be 

 unremunerative for the State to acquire large areas 

 of poor land. 



69. We do not advise compulsory measures in the 

 first instance. At the end of the war, when labour, 

 horses, and machinerj'^ are available, an appeal should 

 be made by the Board of Agriculture, based upon 

 such measures of assistance to the industry as the 

 Government may adopt. But if the farmers proved 

 unwilling to respond to such an appeal, the question 

 of compulsion would, we think, in the national interest, 

 have to be considered. We regard the possession of 

 land as involving duties to the State. Land ought 

 to be well farmed, and we think the State justified in 

 taking measures, if necessary, to enforce good farming. 



70. We hope that voluntary measures will succeed, 



