1920.J Speech by Minister of Agriculture. 327 



say that the bad farmer is a curse to the industry. (Hear, hear.; 

 He gets no sympathy whatsoever from the great majority 

 who are farming properly. They recognise him as a danger 

 to the industry and I hope he has got no friends. At any rate, 

 we must reserve the right, in the last resort, to make him do 

 his duty by the land and by the nation. And remember 

 that a very large section of this Bill — one-half of the Bill — 

 is devoted to giving increased security of tenure to farmers. 

 But we do not want to give any increase of security of tenure 

 to bad farmers. It would be a disastrous result of the land 

 tenure part of the Bill if as a result the bad farmers, of whom 

 I am sorry to say there are a certain number in this country, 

 were fixed in their tenancy. That would not be in the national 

 interest. (Hear, hear.) 



Control and State Assistance. — Therefore the State must retain 

 the right, in exchange for these special privileges which it is 

 giving under the Bill, to insist that land shall be used to the 

 best advantage — not in an uneconomical sense, but in the 

 way of the best husbandry. There is no doubt about it. 

 Parliament would never pass a Bill of this kind unless we 

 coupled with the guarantees a reasonable measure of control. 

 Certainly I am not prepared to work for guarantees and to get 

 these special privileges unless the people who get them recognise 

 at the same time their responsibilities to the nation. In this 

 respect I say we must have the whole of the principles of the 

 Bill or none. The Bill, of course, can be criticised and amended 

 in detail ; but the principles must stand and they must stand 

 all together. They all form part of one coherent policy. 

 Let me repeat with regard to those who are trying to stir 

 up prejudice by saying that we contemplate some great 

 compulsory ploughing campaign, that those fears are groundless. 

 We are working on lines of achieving our object b}^ inducement, 

 not by force. We are doing it by making it worth the while 

 of the farmer to increase his arable cultivation, with the addition 

 that if it is made worth his while we feel he has no excuse to 

 ignore the national need. In this matter public opinion is 

 deeply interested. Public opinion is going to be brought to bear 

 upon this industry through the Press and through the eyes 

 of every consumer. You will not be able to ignore public 

 opinion, and I have not the slightest reason to suppose that 

 any of you wish to do so. 



The Need for Confidence. — In the meantime we must do our 

 utmost — I appeal to you all to do your utmost — to what I 

 will call " stop the rot " with regard to lack of confidence 



