250 



Council of Agriculture for England. 



[June, 



* one-third of 1 per cent, of the total 20,000 sheep, or one-tenth 

 of 1 per cent, of the total, and 9,000 pigs, or one-third of 1 per 

 cent, of the total. 



Turning then to the recommendations of the Geddes Com- 

 mittee, which Committee, he said, had performed a very valu- 

 able service to the country generally, reductions of the Ministry's- 

 expenditure had been proposed which he had been unable to 

 accept. Before the Geddes Report, the Ministry had itself 

 made a reduction amounting to about 36 per cent, of its expen- 

 diture. The Committee, nevertheless, proposed further 

 reductions and suggested that the live stock scheme, including 

 the bull and boar scheme and the milk recording scheme, should 

 be stopped. He had, however, been able to convince the Cabinet 

 that they should be retained. As regards the grants for agri- 

 cultural education and research, the Committee had suggested 

 that, in view of the extra £1,000,000 which had been acquired 

 for Agriculture under the Corn Production Act (Eepeal) Act, 

 there ought to be a big cut in the amount which we had been 

 spending upon that subject before the grant had been obtained. 

 To carry out such a proposition, however, appeared to '.he 

 Minister to involve a most distinct breach of faith with the 

 agricultural community. He, therefore, with the aid of the 

 Secretary for Scotland, whose Department was Effected in the 

 same way, had been able to make his case good before the 

 Cabinet, and the original grants for agricultural education and 

 research were accordingly retained. The share for England and 

 Wales (£850.000), as to the allocation of which the Agricultural 

 Advisory Committee had been consulted, would be spent, as far 

 as possible, on large and important services, such as the proposed 

 new institute for Veterinary Research. The Minister here out- 

 lined the main items which the proposed allocation cove: eel. He 

 went on to say that during the last few 7 months a good deal of 

 work had been done for the relief of unemployment by means of 

 land drainage work. A grant of £'650, 000 had b:en obtained 

 for land drainage, of which about £400,000 had been spent on 

 368 schemes which had been sanctioned. Ditches and water- 

 courses had been cleaned out and land rendered cultivable which 

 formerly had been water-logged. To-day, about 8.000 men 

 were being employed and valuable work was being accompli hed. 



Within the period under review, the difficulty as to milk prices 

 had been settled, with the result that farmers got 2|d. per gallon 

 more for their milk for the next six months than they would have 

 done under agreements many of which had already been signed.. 



