252 



The " Royal's " War Record. 



[JUNE, 



in 1 915. The Breed Societies, the Central Chamber of Agri- 

 culture, the National Farmers' Union, and practically all the 

 county agricultural associations joined heartily in the movement, 

 and the Committee became representative not only of every 

 phase of agricultural activity in this country but of Dominion 

 agriculturists as well. A start was made with relief work 

 in the Marne and Meuse in 19 15 in those districts liberated 

 by the first victory of the Marne. A large number of Southdown 

 rams, including five given by the King, many ploughs, harrows, 

 cultivators, drills, and binders, as well as considerable quantities 

 of seed corn and seed potatoes, were sent and distributed. 



The Committee's opportunities for relief, however, diminished 

 when the War became an affair of trenches and long-range 

 artillery, and although small shipments of seeds, live poultry, 

 and fruit trees, were sent to France while fighting was still 

 in progress, it was not possible to embark upon the main pro- 

 gramme of relief until after the Armistice in November, 1918. 

 By that time the Fund had been raised to over £200,000, 

 this sum being obtained very largely by means of gift sales 

 organised in the principal agricultural centres by the county 

 committees. 



In pTance and Belgium it was decided to restrict operations 

 to districts where the agricultural industry had most seriously 

 suffered, and in each case these happened also to be districts 

 which British soldiers had defended — the Department of the 

 Somme in France, and the Valley of the Yser in Belgium. 

 The great need in both regions was for a supply of milk, the 

 Belgian district in particular having previously been renowned 

 for its dairy produce. In the Somme, however, there v/as an 

 absence of buildings for the accommodation of cattle, and the 

 Committee therefore sent consignments of pigs and poultry 

 at first, and did not distribute any cattle until June, 1919, 

 when the situation had sufficiently improved to justify sending 

 such stock. In Belgium, on the other hand, there was, behind 

 the actual battle-front, accommodation for dairy stock from 

 the first, and within four months after the Armistice the Com- 

 mittee had placed over 300 head of British dairy cattle on the 

 pastures of devastated Belgium. Other cattle, together with 

 sheep and pigs, followed in both countries, and the Committee 

 has received abundant evidence of the important part played 

 by its gifts in the work of reconstruction. A matter for 

 satisfaction is the care which has been bestowed upon the 

 animals by their new owners, and with ver}^ few exceptions 



