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The Agriculture Act, 19-20. 



[Feb., 



THE AGRICULTURE ACT, 1920. 



The Agriculture Act,, which received the Royal Assent on the 

 24th December last, came into operation on the 1st January. 

 The Act consists of two main parts, of which the first contains 

 amendments of the Corn Production Act, 1917, and the second 

 contains amendments of the Agricultural Holdings Acts. 



Part I. 



1. Part I of the Act makes permanent the temporary provi- 

 sions of the Corn Production Act, 1917, including the provisions 

 as to agricultural wages and the enforcement of proper cultiva- 

 tion. Provision is, however, made for terminating the operation 

 of that Act. as amended by this Act, by means of an Order in 

 Council to be made on an Address presented to the Crown by 

 both Houses of Parliament, but subject to the condition that the 

 Order shall not take effect until the expiration of the fourth 

 year after the date on which it is made. (Section 1.) 



2. Instead of the fixed guaranteed minimum prices fixed by 

 the Act of 1917. minimum prices in future are to be based on 

 the following minimum prices for the standard year (1919), viz. : 

 wheat 68s. per quarter of 504 lb., and oats 46s. per quarter of 

 336 lb. These are the minimum prices recommended by the 

 Royal Commission on Agriculture and are based on the cost of 

 production in the standard year. Minimum prices for 1921 and 

 subsequent years are to be fixed by three Commissioners, and are 

 to rise or fall in comparison with the above prices for the standard 

 year in the same proportion as the cost of production rises or 

 falls in comparison with the cost for the standard year. The 

 Commissioners are to be appointed, one by the English and Scot- 

 tish Departments of Agriculture jointly, one by the Treasury, 

 and one bv the Board of Trade. (Sections 2 and 3.) 



3. The provisions of Section 9 of the Act of 1917, which deal 

 with the enforcement of proper cultivation, are re-enacted with 

 substantial modifications and amendments by Section 4. The 

 principal amendments are as follows : — 



(a) The power to enforce the breaking up of pasture has been 

 abandoned and the control of cultivation is limited to secur- 

 ing, by service of appropriate notices, the maintenance, 

 so far as practicable, of land, whether arable or grass. 

 " clean and in a good state of cultivation and fertility and 

 in good condition." and the improvement of existing methods 

 of cultivation, where production of food can in the national 



