NEW AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 127 



parts for machines now in use, as otherwise many of 

 these cannot be kept running. 



75. We strongly agree with the advice of the Majority 

 as regards the establishment of new agricultural 

 industries (para. 184) ; we endorse what they say as 

 to sugar beet, and desire to call attention to the fact 

 that in 1913 we imported almost £11,000,000 worth 

 of beet sugar from Germany, all of Avhich could have 

 been grown in this country. 



Paragraph 184 in the Majority Report is as follows : 



*' 184. Apart from the general question of policy discussed 

 in the preceding paragraphs, we think that agriculture might 

 be developed and agricultural employment increased by the 

 establishment of new agricultural industries. The sugar-beet 

 industry, which for several years has claimed the attention of 

 the agricultural community and the Government Departments 

 concerned, might after the cessation of hostilities be estab- 

 lished in time to provide employment for a certain number 

 of ex-Service men. In order to test the possibility of growing 

 beet and manufacturing sugar on a commercial scale it will 

 be necessary either to lend Government support to private 

 enterprise or for the Government itself to undertake the 

 bultivation of beet and the starting of a factory or factories 

 for the manufacture of sugar. In the latter case the Govern- 

 ment could absorb a number of ex-Service men amongst its 

 employers. The growing of more potatoes in those districts 

 which are suited to the crop has also been advocated by 

 several of our witnesses, in order to make it economically 

 possible (as in some continental countries) to manufacture 

 industrial alcohol and starch on a large scale, as well as in- 

 creasing the supply of home-grown food both for men and 

 cattle. There are, in addition, some minor industries, such 

 as the use of osiers for basket making, the manufacture of 

 acetone, and the use of underwood for making fences, hoops, 

 crates, etc., which might be carried on under improved con- 

 ditions and would lead to the employment of a certain number 

 of men, including some who were disabled. The cultivation 

 and manufacture of home-grown tobacco are also deserving 

 of further investigation." 



