THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE 



Vol. XXVI. No. 10. 



JANUARY, 1920. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



As far as the past year is concerned agriculturists may be 

 pardoned if they speak of it as annus mirabilis, though perhaps 

 all its fruits are in a way the ripening 

 AgricultTire harvest of the Corn Production Act. 

 and Legislation t • x j • xi, x j.u • 



in 1919 introducing that measure the Pnme 



Minister announced the coming of the 

 changes for which the year 191 9 has paved the way. After 

 something like forty years in the wilderness of national 

 indifference and neglect, agriculture received special consider- 

 ation, and the Government has undertaken to provide 

 legislation for its most pressing needs. Now we are able to 

 see the national policy taking shape. Five Acts of Parliament 

 affecting agricultural interests have been successfully carried 

 through. They are the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act, 

 the Forestry Act, the Agricultural Sales (Restriction of Notices 

 to Quit) Act, the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, and the 

 jVIinistry of Agriculture and Fisheries Act. Regarded as parts 

 of a comprehensive national programme it will be seen that 

 all these measures serve in their own fashion to strengthen the 

 position of agriculture in England. They provide the necessary 

 machinery for developments that are regarded as necessary 

 in the best interests not only of agricultural but of industrial 

 England, which must, perforce, depend to a large extent upon 

 the prosperity of British farming. When we come to consider the 

 normal pace of legislative progress it is clear that we have seen 

 in 1 91 9 developments to which no preceding year within the 

 limits of living memory can afford a parallel. At the same time 

 it is well to remember that the legislative programme is by no 

 means exhausted by what has gone before. Indeed, the Acts 

 to which Parliament has already given approval are, in a 

 way, the prelude to still wider measures. The Interim Report 

 of the Royal Commission (see pp. 964 and 967) provides a 



3 T 



(763). Wt. p. 3137—1^1. I?, 500. i/ao. J. T. & S., Ltd. 



