1148 



Deputation from Trade Union Congress. 



[Mar., 



DEPUTATION FROM THE PARLIA- 

 MENTARY COMMITTEE OF THE 

 TRADE UNION CONGRESS. 



On 8th February, Sir Arthur Griffith -Boscawen, M.P., 

 received a Deputation from the Parliamentary Committee of 

 the Trade Union Congress when Mr. E. B. Walker drew atten- 

 tion to the following Resolution of the Congress : — 



" That this Congress while recognising that the land 

 problem cannot be effectively dealt with outside national 

 ownership and control, nevertheless believes that immediate 

 steps should be taken to secure the compulsory cultivation 

 of all agricultural land." 



Mr. Walker declared that more than 240,000 acres had gone 

 out of cultivation in 1920, while 480,000 acres had gone out 

 of cultivation in two years. In passing, he criticised the effec- 

 tive representation of labour on certain of the Agricultural 

 County Committees, and then pointed out that there had been 

 a large reduction in the number of farm labourers since 1911. 

 He claimed, too, that since 1903, in spite of the Small Holdings 

 Act that came five years later, the number of small holdings 

 in this country showed an actual decline from 433,000 to 

 417,000. In conclusion, he asked (1) for more extended cultiva- 

 tion, (2) for further investigation into wheat growing, (3) for 

 stricter supervision over acts of husbandry, (4) for a vigorous 

 housing policy. 



In reply, Sir Arthur Grifnth-Boscawen pointed out that the 

 term " out of cultivation " was very carelessly applied by 

 many people who used it. Cultivation was often meant to 

 imply arable cultivation, but unless that was the limited sense 

 in which the term was used by Mr. B. B. Walker, he would 

 like to say that land had not gone out of cultivation; indeed 

 there was very little uncultivated land in this country. Land 

 properly laid down to grass could not be described as having 

 gone out of cultivation. A certain amount of land awaited 

 reclamation, but the Ministry's experiences showed that this 

 reclamation might exceed the value of the land reclaimed. 

 With regard to the shrinkage in the area under cultivation in 

 the broadest sense, it was well to remember that urban England 

 and Wales were extending their boundaries day by day, 

 month by month and }~ear by year; where the field is the out- 

 skirt of the town to-day the suburb will replace it to-morrow, 



