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Parliamentary Publications. 



if). That the fall in the staple products already referred to has been accompanied l)y 

 a decline of at least 20 to 30 per cent, in the price of potatoes. 



{£■). That although there have been fluctuations in the prices of hops, they have 

 exhibited in recent years a general tendency to fall to an unprofitable level. 



The Commissioners think it important to note that there 

 has been a general correspondence between the fall in prices 

 and the intensity of foreign competition. They show that 

 there has been a remarkable increase in the imports of all 

 forms of agricultural produce, and that this expansion has 

 been accompanied in nearly every case by a contraction in 

 the prices of the several articles concerned. Of the various 

 products of British agriculture wheat has been most affected 

 by this development, the foreign supply of this grain having 

 gradually displaced the home production until the latter 

 now constitutes barely 25 per cent, of the quantity needed for 

 consumption annually in this country. As regards meat, 

 there has been apparently no actual displacement of the 

 home produce by the growth of the imports, the supply of 

 foreign beef and mutton meeting a demand for cheap meat 

 not hitherto satisfied by the home production. In the case 

 of dairy produce, the importation of butter, margarine, and 

 cheese is estimated to represent more than 50 per cent, of 

 the annual supply. The condition of agriculture in the 

 several countries exporting farm produce to the United 

 Kingdom is discussed in some detail. 



The Commissioners have endeavoured to indicate the 

 remedies for some of the disadvantages under which agri- 

 culture still labours, and among the subjects dealt with in 

 their recommendations are the Agricultural Holdings Act, 

 1883, Tithe Rent Charge, Railway Rates, Damage by Game, 

 the Sale of Adulterated Products, and the Sale of Imported 

 Goods as Home Produce. They also recommend that more 

 assistance should be given to the Board of Agriculture for 

 the employment of correspondents both in this country and 

 abroad, and that the Board should be entrusted with more 

 ample powers of control and inspection over the whole 

 system of technical agricultural education. 



