324 Speech by Minister of Agriculture. [JUly, 



a largely increased sowing of wheat this autumn, not merely 

 from motives of patriotism, but simply because it will be well 

 worth the while of the farmer to do it ; and after all that is the 

 best inducement. 



Thd Acreag:e Basis of the Guarantee. — Then, perhaps, I shall be 

 asked : " Why is it that this guaranteed minimum price is 

 based upon the acreage grown rather than upon the amount of 

 crop harvested ? " There are two very good reasons for 

 that. The first is an administrative one. It would be utterly 

 impossible to check every quarter of wheat that was grown. 

 It would mean a perfect army of inspectors and checkers 

 all over the country, at every threshing, at every miller's, 

 and I amx sure farmers would be the first to complain of any 

 further invasion of that kind. (Hear, hear.) Secondly, 

 it would operate hardly against the man with light land, 

 and we particularly want to encourage the growing of more 

 wheat on the lighter lands. Therefore we take the average 

 production of the whole country at four quarters an acre. 

 If a man only grows two quarters on account of the poorness 

 of ?iis soil he still will receive precisely the same amount of 

 subsidy from the State under the guaranteed minimum price. 

 Of course, he will not receive as much for the sale of his wheat 

 as the man who grows five quarters, but he will get exactly 

 the same guarantee subsidy as everyone else from the Govern- 

 ment with regard to the acreage which he has sown. Whilst 

 on this question of the lighter lands may I just say that the 

 only way in which I believe this country can ever be made 

 reasonably self-supporting, the only way in which wheat 

 growing, and, indeed, farming of all kinds, can be made certainly 

 profitable, and the only way in which adequate wages can be 

 paid to the agricultural labourer — the only way in which all 

 those things can be done on an economic basis — is that the 

 average yield of all our crops should be increased. It is in 

 this connection that we find the great value of the work that 

 is being done here by Dr. Russell and his devoted staff and by 

 great scientists like Professor Biffen and others. (Applause.) 

 It is quite clear that it can be done. It is already being done 

 on a small scale, and what we have got to do, by increased 

 grants for education, and increased propaganda, is to make 

 known to the whole body of farmers in this country the special 

 discoveries and productions which have come from the work 

 of these great institutions. That is the chief way in which 

 production can be made more economical. 



Science and Economical Production. — You cannot expect to 

 make production more economical by cutting down the 



