572 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 
modern technique on employment and production. Questions of procedure. 
Conclusion. 
Prof. A. W. AsHspy.—Technical and economic efficiency and some 
social results (11.30). 
DISCUSSION (12.0). 
AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to the Robert Bakewell Memorial and the Midland 
Agricultural College. 
Friday, September 8. 
Discussion on Land drainage :— 
(1) Lancer WaTERWAYS. 
Mr. A. T. A. Dosson, C.V.O., C.B.E.—The law of land drainage ; 
arterial drainage (10. 0). 
A brief account is given of the trend and object of land drainage legislation 
prior to 1930, when a new and comprehensive Act was passed repealing all 
previous enactments, and providing for the constitution of a new class of 
land drainage authority. 
The more important of the powers conferred by this latter Act are shortly 
described, and some account is given of the progress that has already been 
made and i is likely to be made in the future by the new authorities which 
have been set up under that Act, in dealing with the task before them, and 
in organising the drainage system of the districts for which they are 
responsible. 
The nature of the operations which urgently require to be carried out on 
the main rivers of England and Wales is referred to, and an attempt is made 
to show that powers now exist for the first time under the Land Drainage 
Act, 1930, whereby every watercourse from the farm ditch to the great 
arterial or estuarial river, can be maintained in a reasonably effective manner 
with the financial resources provided under the Act. 
Discussion. (Mr. W. Hare.) 
(2) Fietp Drains. 
Mr. H. H. NICHOLSON (10.30) -— 
(a) A general survey of the position on farms. 
The area of land requiring field drainage varies enormously from one 
part of the country to another, depending on such factors as physiography, 
geological formation, the main drainage channels, the type and maintenance 
of previous drainage operations. ‘Tile draining and mole draining are still 
practised, the former to a diminished extent. Ditching and the cleaning of 
watercourses are still carried out with effect, but these important links between 
the field drains and the main water-ways are being increasingly neglected. 
(6) Drainage investigations at Cambridge. 
The field moisture profile of the soil and its variations throughout the 
year have been studied particularly on heavy land, in conjunction with the 
incidence of rain and the performance of drain outfalls. ‘The mode of 
