1922.] 



Council of Agriculture, 



941 



The mover said that the reports of the meetmgs held in 

 August and October covered hardly more than a page and a half 

 in The Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture. There had also 

 been an omission, the letter which the Minister had written 

 to the chairman, Lord Selborne, which contained a reference 

 to the embargo on store cattle, not having been printed in the 

 Journal, and agriculturists had, therefore, not had an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing it. No increased cost in the publication of the 

 Journal would appear to be necessary inasmuch as other matters 

 could be, without much loss, left out of the publication. The 

 terms of his resolution were not mandatory in any sense; all 

 he wished was that the Council should express an opinion, 

 leaving it to the better judgment of the Minister whether he 

 thought it desirable to act on the suggestion. Mr. Colin Camp- 

 bell seconded the motion. 



The Minister said that he was quite prepared to agree to the 

 publication of fuller reports of the Council's meetings in the 

 Journal of the Ministry. He did not think that Lord Strachie 

 meant that they should be inserted verbatim. If they were, 

 they would fill the Journal to the exclusion of a great deal of 

 most valuable matter. As to reports of the proceedings of the 

 Agricultural Advisory Committee, that was, more or less, a 

 confidential body which acted in the manner of a Cabinet, and 

 it w^ould be undesirable to publish its proceedings in detail. He 

 thought, however, that the reports summarising its con- 

 clusions, one of which was now about to be submitted to the 

 Council, should be printed in the Journal. 



The motion was then put to the Meeting and carried. 



Mr. E. W. Langford moved that the report of the Agricul- 

 tural Advisory Committee should be received by the Council. 

 (This Eeport is printed on p. 942 of this Journal.) 



The Minister announced that in conformity with a sugges- 

 tion which he had made in a letter to Lord Selborne on 4th 

 October, 1921, a copy of which had been circulated to eacH 

 member of the Council, he was prepared to make a statement 

 to the Council at each of its statutory meetings w^hich would 

 cover a general review of the situation with regard to agricul- 

 ture during the preceding six months. On the proposal of 

 Mr. Donaldson, seconded by Mr. Colin Campbell, the offer was 

 warmly welcomed by the Council and agreed to. 



