PLANNING THE LAND OF BRITAIN 497 



That little extra income to be derived from the visitors is just enough to 

 turn the small holding in this mountainous country into a proposition on 

 which men will willingly continue to live. And it is a wise provision for 

 the townspeople, too, for these areas are the natural playgrounds of the 

 towns. Let us facilitate it by all means. Even as an economic proposition 

 it will pay to attract tourists to the Highlands, and, instead of trying by other 

 means to exclude visitors, even to the extent of letting roads fall into dis- 

 repair and breaking down bridges, to attract people so as to help to save 

 the population which is semi-dependent upon the tourist traffic. 



We can see very easily how, if all this land of ours in Great Britain were 

 under skilful management, under one hand, it could be put to much better 

 use than it is at the present time ; but all these reforms which have been 

 suggested will never be realised until, in some way or another, the State 

 owns all the agricultural land of the country. 



Prof. J. H. Jones. 1 — •' Planning ' does not mean framing a measure or 

 series of measures to meet an emergency ; it is not a surgical operation or a 

 bottle of medicine, but a mode of living which is appropriate to the stage of 

 development already reached by human society. A ' plan ' does not work 

 for its own extinction ; it contains a degree of continuity or permanence 

 that is lacking in an emergency measure. It must, therefore, be carefully 

 thought out, in all its bearings, some time before it can be put into opera- 

 tion ; and it should be sufficiently flexible to be adapted to changes in the 

 circumstances which it is designed to meet. 



We cannot embark upon ' planning ' without agreement about its purpose : 

 we must first of all know what we want. But there may be agreement 

 about the purpose without agreement about the method by which it is to 

 be achieved. The purpose of planning may be economic (narrowly inter- 

 preted), social or strategic, or a mixture of all three. 



In so far as a plan is conceived for the purpose of defence the economic 

 purpose disappears. The choice between guns and butter, or between fats, 

 flesh and cereals, may be real and pressing. Defence may be assumed to be 

 necessary either against external aggression or against internal strife. Two 

 million people placed on the land may mean not only a greater domestic 

 supply of foodstuffs, but also two million fewer potential communists. 

 Europe illustrates the fact that a national plan so conceived involves economic 

 waste — a cost which is accepted. For defence remains more important 

 than opulence. 



Planning for a social purpose may likewise only be possible at an economic 

 cost. Thus it may be regarded as desirable to prevent over-concentration 

 of population even where economic forces tend to produce such a result. 

 Industries may be guided — even forced — into geographic regions in which 

 human costs of production are higher than in others. A declining industry, 

 such as coal mining, may be so controlled as to prevent too rapid a decline 

 in any one part. Economic factors are subordinated to the presumed need 

 for assisting the inhabitants of depressed regions and perpetuating the exist- 

 ing distribution of population or reducing the rate of change. 



There is a sense in which it is true to say that industry has always been 

 the subject of planning ; the method of selecting industries and of deter- 

 mining their location and method of operation being that of relying mainly 

 upon individual initiative and enterprise directed by the prospect or chance 

 of making a profit. But it should be added, first, that the economic purpose, 



* Prof. J. H. Jones was the seventh and last speaker and, the meeting having 

 exceeded its time limit, he did not deliver the address of which the leading 

 topics are here printed, but confined liimself to a few remarks of general interest. 



