968 Interim Report on Agriculture. [JAn. 



above or below those of 191 9 are to be applied is recomm- 

 ended at 68s. per quarter of 504 lb. of wheat, 59s. per quarter 

 of 448 lb. of barley, and 46s. per quarter of 336 lb. of oats. 



The datum line figures were estimated by the Commission 

 after considering a large body of evidence as to actual costs of 

 cereal production in 1 917-18, and raising the average bare 

 costs for that year by the percentage of increase in costs which 

 the evidence before them indicated had taken place between 

 1 91 7-1 8 and 191 8-1 9. The scheme of guarantees recommended 

 is one which is calculated to return to the farmer in those years 

 when world prices fall below the average costs of production 

 an amoimt nearly up to his out-of-pocket expenditure in pro- 

 ducing the crop. In other words, the guarantees are guaran- 

 tees against^serious loss, and are designed to add to the farmer's 

 feeling of security so that he may be placed in a good position 

 to undertake the breaking up of more pasture where to do so 

 would seem a sound business proposition, or, if he has no fresh 

 land to break up, so that he will be able to see his way to 

 retain under the plough all the newly-broken up land which 

 produces a fair crop. 



Ihe object of the proposed guarantees is precisely the same 

 as that of the Corn Production Act, 1917, namely, to encourage 

 the growth of cereals and arable cultivation. As the Report 

 states, this object was considered and reported upon by various 

 Committees during the War, nearly all of which were decidedly 

 in favour of its attainment by a system of guarantees. Lord 

 Milner's Committee, which reported in 191 5,* stated that 

 to obtain any substantial increase in the production of wheat, 

 oats, and potatoes, it would be necessary for farmers to sacrifice 

 the comparative certainty of their profits at that time, to change 

 some of their methods, to alter their rotations, and to increase 

 their area of arable cultivation, in the face of the shortage of 

 labour then existing. It was recognised that, if they did this, 

 they would have to run the risk not only of uncertain seasons 

 but also of a fall in the price of wheat at the conclusion of the 

 War, and the Committee expressed the opinion that it was 

 essential in order to ensure a general movement in the direction 

 of increased wheat production that a minimum price for home- 

 grown wheat should be guaranteed for a period of several 

 years. The Selborne Committee, f which was a sub-committee 

 of the Reconstruction Committee, made recommendations to 



• See this Journal, September 1915. P- 585, and November, 1915, p. 803. 

 t See this Journal, April, 191 7, p. i. A review of the Final Report of 

 this Committee was published in the issue of this Journal, July, 191 8, p. 385. 



