109 1 



HOME-GROWN WHEAT PRICES. 



The Prime Minister received a Deputation from the National 

 Farmers' Union, on the 16th February, in regard to the price 

 to be paid for home-grown wheat of the 1920 crop. 



The Deputation consisted of Mr. B. R. Bobbins, C.B.E., J. P. 

 (President, National Farmers' Union) ; Mr. J. Donaldson 

 (Vice-President, National Farmers' Union); Mr. E. W. K. 

 Slade, C.C. (Chairman, Cereals, Livestock and Wool Com- 

 mittee); Mr. E. G. H. Maddy, J.P., C.C. (Vice-Chairman, 

 Cereals, Livestock and Wool Committee) ; Mr. H. Overman, 

 C.B.E. (Bepresenting Norfolk) ; Mr. W. Easier, LP. (Bepresent- 

 ing Essex); and Mr. A. D. Allen, O.B.E. (General Secretary). 



The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Bt. Hon. Sir 

 Arthur Griffith-Boscawen, Lord Crawford, and Sir Wm. 

 Mitchell Thomson. 



The Prime Minister discussed the matter in detail with the 

 Deputation and in the course of the proceedings made the 

 following statement: — 



" I do not think there is very much between us except on 

 a matter of adjustment of figures. I have consulted my 

 colleagues since my attention was called to this controversy. 

 I feel personally, apart from the fact of being involved in it as 

 Prime Minister and Head of the Government, under an 

 obligation here. I made personal appeals to the farmers of 

 this country, and I have taken a personal interest in the 

 matter. The farmers of the kingdom responded in a way 

 which I think is very creditable to British agriculture. There 

 were other ways in which they could have made more money 

 with less trouble, where they might have dispensed with a 

 good deal of the trouble they are having with labour, but 

 they met the wishes of the Government patriotically, and I 

 gave this pledge to them after consulting the Cabinet, in 

 order to give them a sense of security. The pledge which I 

 then gave, interpreted by Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen in 

 his answer in the House of Commons, I stand by in the letter 

 and in the spirit, and where there is legitimate doubt I am 

 prepared — and I do so after consulting the Cabinet — to 

 give the benefit of the doubt to the farmers, because it is 

 of paramount importance that there should be no feeling 

 in any section of the community that the British 

 Government has broken faith with them. Therefore I say 

 at once that we stand by these pledges. That means, as I 



