1920.] Speech by the Minister of Agriculture. 817 



an army of inspectors or anything else in Whitehall — the 

 Ministry of Agriculture is a shockingly^ overcrowded establish- 

 ment — that is not our desire in the least. Then there is the other 

 misconception, rather the opposite one, that it is the main busi- 

 ness of the Ministry of Agriculture to be always trying to wring 

 concessions of some kind or another, for farmers in particular, 

 out of a reluctant Cabinet and Parliament, and whilst it is very 

 seldom thanked if it is successful in those matters it is as invari- 

 ably abused if it happens to be unsuccessful. My conception of 

 the functions of the Ministry of Agriculture is entirely different. 

 I do not think it should be either a controller or a wet nurse of 

 British agriculture. It is true it is its representative in the 

 Government, its spokesman in Parliament, and I hope when occa- 

 sion demands it will try to be its big brother in both those bodies. 



Disappearance of Control. — But to go back to the first point, 

 it is certainly not the desire of the Ministry, so far as I have 

 anything to do w^ith it, to exercise undue control; indeed my 

 ambition, since I have been there, has been to try and get rid, 

 at the earliest possible moment, of all the controls of prices which 

 were exercised and which were necessary during the period of 

 the War and the period that immediately followed. (Cheers.) I 

 claim that I have been largely successful in the pursuance of that 

 policy. Anyhow I have done my best, but I must point out quite 

 frankly that I have not always been helped by farmers with 

 regard to this matter. There have been notable instances, for 

 example, with regard to home-grown meat, where I have been 

 opposed, and in the end practically voted down by the farmers 

 themselves. One of the unhappy results of years of control 

 during the War has been that it has made some farmers hug 

 their chains in the belief that if they were removed they would 

 not be as comfortable as before. 



Wlieat Prices. — Every one of those controls has nov^ gone, 

 with the exception, and I believe it is the sole exception, of the 

 price of wheat in connection with the harvest of 1920. So far as 

 next year's harvest is concerned a guarantee has already been 

 given by the Government that there shall be a free market. I 

 am, well aware — if nothing else, my postbag would remind me 

 constantly of the fact — that it is a very sore point with farmers 

 at the present time that they are not allowed a free market for 

 their wheat of the present harvest, and I am inclined to sym- 

 pathise with them. I do not mind saying that I have done my 

 best to get that view considered by the Government , but neither 

 the Minister of Agriculture, nor any other Minister, can expect 



