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PREFACE 



IN the autumn of 1912 the Fabian Society formed a 

 Committee to inquire into Land Problems and 

 Rural Development, and to report to the Society 

 upon the whole subject. The members of the Com- 

 mittee included men and women with a very special 

 knowledge of certain aspects of country life. They 

 ^ heard the evidence of witnesses of varying shades of 

 £ political and economic opinion, and consulted many 

 of the leading living authorities on different branches of 



the subject. 



It fell to my lot, as Chairman of this Committee, to 

 _j draw up a Report, the original draft of which appeared in 

 3D August as a special supplement to The New Statesman. 

 ^ The draft, with some correction and modifications, and 

 o witH the addition of numerous appendices, was after- 

 Q wards adopted as the Report of the Committee ; and it is 

 e> this Report which is now made public in the following 

 u pages. One member, Mr. Oldershaw, disagreed with 

 the Minimum Wage policy, especially as regards its 

 effect on the farmer- ; the rest of the Committee were at 

 one on all the main issues. It was intended to include 

 a chapter on Women in Agriculture, but the facts were 

 so difficult to obtain that we decided merely to draw 

 attention to the crying need for further official informa- 

 tion. 



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