824 Speech by the Minister of Agriculture. 



Agricultural Cabinet in the Central Advisory Council which 

 is to be constantly at the elbow of the Minister of Agriculture, 

 to keep him straight and in touch with the views of the farming 

 community throughout the country. With regard to the 

 Central Advisory Council, I am going to be bold enough to say 

 that whilst as Minister I shall be the nominal chairman or 

 presiding officer of that Council, I want to have as the real 

 acting chairman a practical farmer of the highest standing 

 and reputation amongst his own people. (Cheers.) That will, 

 I hope, satisfy the demand for what is commonly called " a 

 practical man in Whitehall." (Laughter.) 



Recent Legislation : Seeds and Fertilisers. — Now a few words 

 about our legislation. I have been talking to you hitherto about 

 our administrative Acts. I have referred to the Bill which 

 formed these County Committees, and before I come to a 

 larger Bill I want to mention tw^o other Bills which we passed 

 through Parliament. last Session, and which attracted very little 

 attention, but which I think are going to be of immense service 

 to agriculture as a whole. The first was the Seeds Bill. That 

 is a little Bill which may have great consequences. It forbids 

 the sale of bad seeds or weed seeds. If there is anything 

 which is the curse of the farmer's life I believe it to be weeds, 

 particularly during the past summer. By this Bill we are 

 endeavouring to tackle the trouble at the right end, and that 

 is to prevent the weeds being sown, instead of dealing with 

 them afterwards. I do not want to go into the details of the 

 Bill now, because it does not come into full operation until 

 August of next year, but I venture to say that as a result of 

 that Bill British farmers will be better protected against bad 

 seed and weeds than any other farmers in any other country 

 in the world. (Cheers.) The other small Bill was the Fertilisers 

 Bill, by which we are going to maintain control of the export 

 of fertilisers from this country. (Cheers.) In the present con- 

 dition of the world that is the only way in which the supply 

 •can be maintained and prices kept down. I think that will 

 be recognised as being a vital need for agriculture. The Ministry 

 has further so stimulated the manufacture of artificials in this 

 country that at the present time four times the amount of 

 sulphate, and three times the amount of basic slag that were 

 used before the War are being used to-day. (Cheers.) Those 

 are important results. 



The Agriculture Bill. — I am sure you will expect me before 

 I sit down to say a few words about a much bigger Bill, and 



