1920.] Speech by the Minister of Ageiculttre. 825 



that is the Agriculture Bill that is now before Parliament. 

 (Cheers.) Do not suppose for a moment that I am going into 

 a long discussion with regard to the details of the Bill. After 

 all, I am going to have plenty of that in the course of the 

 next few weeks. My friend, Sir Arthur Boscawen, will have 

 it first in the House of Commons; I shall have it later in the 

 House of Lords. I am not going to anticipate all that. I 

 recognise — I hope my eyes are as wide open as most people's 

 in this matter — that there is considerable difference of opinion 

 with regard to the merits of the Bill. Some people say: " Much 

 too severe ' ' ; others say it ' ' does not go nearly far enough ' ' ; 

 others say it is a " very good " Bill; others say it is " rotten " ! 

 (Laughter.) So, balancing all those things together, I am 

 coming rapidly to the conclusion that the Bill must be just 

 about right. (Laughter.) At any rate, I claim that it is an 

 attempt to do evenhanded justice all round, w^th due regard 

 to the necessities of the times, to the landlord, to the tenant, 

 and the labourer alike. I do not say that it is particularly 

 popular with any of them. If it were I should be at once 

 accused of introducing a sectional measure. From what I 

 have heard recently I gather that it is perhaps even less than 

 popular with the landowners, but I can assure them that I 

 have a very sincere desire to be fair in connection with this 

 Bill, and if for no other reason, because the services that the 

 landlords of this country as a class have rendered to agriculture 

 and to the nation have been many and most striking. T venture 

 to think that those farmers who have now acquired their own 

 farms, and are their own landlords, are beginning to realise 

 the truth of that statement in a way that they never realised 

 it before. A friend of mine who purchased his holding about 

 two years ago said sadly the other day that he was the worst 

 landlord he had ever had. (Laughter.) Owing to the conditions 

 of the times, and new taxation, and so forth, landlords are, 

 in many cases, forced to sell; they cannot possibly afford to 

 carry on; and that throws upon the Government the necessity 

 of trying to protect the reasonable interests of the tenants, and, 

 at any rate, to see that they have that sense of security, with- 

 out which it is hopeless to suppose that they are going to show 

 any enterprise or increase production. I say this with all 

 seriousness and earnestness to the landowners, that although 

 there are many things in the Bill which they may not like, 

 I venture to think that it offers a fairer settlement than any 

 future Parliament is likely to offer them, and that it represents 

 the only alternative to either fixity of tenure or land nationalisa- 



