M.— AGRICULTURE ii33 



Similarly, our consumption of mutton and lamb is far greater than 

 that of most other populations — 28 lb. per head per annum as compared 

 with 6-8 lb. in France, 6-5 lb. in Canada, 5-8 lb. in the U.S.A., and 

 1-6 lb. in Germany ; but Table IV shows that it is only about two- 

 fifths of our consumption of beef and veal. The home supply and the 

 consumption of mutton and lamb per head appear to be recovering from 

 the check caused by the war, but it is clear that the home product has 

 not held its own in the competition for supplying the demands of our 

 increasing population, and we now depend on overseas supplies to a much 

 greater extent than before the war. 



At the same time, I feel that these figures must not be taken as an exact 

 measure of the importance of the sheep industry in our national agricul- 

 tural economy. There are many other considerations to be taken into 

 account, some of which I will discuss later. 



Development of British Sheep Farming : Wool Production. 



The importance of sheep is no new feature of British agriculture, and 

 a rapid survey of the history of sheep farming in this country will enable 

 us to obtain a better idea of the present position of the industry and its 

 prospects for the future. I cannot go further back than Norman times, 

 and I do not suppose that until the country became comparatively settled 

 and law-abiding, sheep were of very great importance. In a country 

 subject to continual tribal quarrels or internal wars, I imagine that a sheep 

 flock would excite the feelings said to be roused to-day by a rabbit in a 

 Yorkshire mining district. Throughout the Middle Ages it would hardly 

 be an exaggeration to say that the history of sheep farming was the history, 

 not only of agriculture, but of national commerce. Up to the middle of 

 the fifteenth century. Great Britain, and, in particular, the lowland 

 districts of England, provided the most important source of supply of the 

 wool required by continental manufacturers, particularly those of Flanders, 

 but also those of Italy and other countries at a greater distance. Britain 

 almost played the part which Australia plays to-day. Such was the 

 dependence of continental manufacturers on English wool that it was 

 possible to impose export duties, which for long were among the most 

 important sources of revenue available for the mediaeval equivalent of 

 our Chancellor of the Exchequer. The nation was not long content with 

 being merely a producer of raw wool, and from the twelfth century 

 onwards there was a whole series of enactments intended to foster 

 woollen manufacture and to keep British wool for British looms. For 

 long periods the export of wool was actually prohibited, though even in 

 those days prohibition was not entirely successful, and the smuggling of 

 wool out of the country became at various times quite an important 

 enterprise. 



Legislation of this kind was not the only means adopted to build up a 

 manufacturing industry. It is probable that continental weavers were 

 encouraged to come over and settle in different parts soon after the 

 Conquest, and it is certain that Edward III brought over a number of 

 Flemish weavers between 1330 and 1340. By the middle of the fifteenth 



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