June 27, 19 18 
Land & Water 
15 
A uniform standard of weight should be laid down on wliich 
alone sales and purchases of agricultural produce, other 
than Uquids and market-garden produce, should be legal. 
Elimination of Pests and Weeds. — Prohibition of sale 
of impure seeds : County committees to have powers to deal 
with weeds and pests. 
Transport. — A special sub-committee of the Reconstruc- 
tion Committee should be set up to inquire into the whole 
question of transport improvement and facihties. Farmeri 
should be induced to act m co-operation. A scheme should 
be prepared to enable discarded Army motors to be used 
in the organisation of transport services, and for other farm 
purposes. Government should enforce the law as to undue 
preference by railway companies. 
Referring to some of the criticisms levelled at any attempt 
to foster aRriculture or to develop food production at home, 
the Committee sav : "Stripped of all phrases the contention 
is that in the interests of British manufacturers and of the 
British mercantile marine, agriculture must be kept in a 
■ continuously depressed condition. . . . We cannot be both 
a great manufacturing and a gfeat agricultural nation. 
Therefore ... it is to our manufacturing interests that we 
must devote our minds, and not worry our heads about 
agriculture. Moreover, what will happen to our mercantile 
marine if we cease to be dependent on overseas supplies of 
corn or meat ? The greatest possible number of wheat 
cargoes are essential for the prosperity of our mercantile 
marine. Any substantial increase of the home production 
of food will be a deadly blow to our shipping. ... All this 
fuss about agriculture is made because of the submarine 
menace, when, if we cannot overtake and subdue it, we need 
not trouble oui;selves to outline an agricultural or any other 
policy, we shall take our orders from Berlin." 
Probably no member of the Committee ever heard these 
precise forms of words strung together ; but they, like the 
writer, must have heard expressions^ which mean the same 
thing, hundreds of times, from many different kinds of 
people. It is probably the first time that such views have 
ever been condensed into cold type ; but it is time they 
were brought into prominence, for it points to what has 
blocked every proposal seriously put forward for the ameliora- . 
tion of agricultural depression, and that is the vfeiled hostility 
of certain large shipowners inside a^d outside the House of 
Commons. It is a terribly short-sighted view for them to 
take. A flourishing agriculture and an increased home- 
production of food might mean a change of cargoes in certain 
instances, but it would certainly not mean fewer cargoes. 
It would, by the natural increase of wealth which must 
follow increased production, create an enhanced demand for 
numberless commodities which we cannot produce here, and 
for an immense number of cargoes of the raw material for 
British agriculture, e.g., fertilisers and feeding stuffs for 
stock, to mention only two. 
With regard to the submarine menace, the Committee 
fortified their own conclusions by obtaining the opinion of 
the Admiralty. Having drawn attention to the terms of 
reference given by Mr. Asquith, they asked for any observa- 
tions the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were able to 
make in the light of their experience. The following is a 
paraphrase of the reply received, wliich the Lords Commis- 
sioners passed as accurate : 
The submarine attack on the oversea food supply of the 
United Kingdom has thrown a great additional strain upon 
the Navy in the present war. The Navy has so far been 
able to keep this submarine attack in check, but no means 
have yet been discovered to render sea-borne traffic immune 
fr^om attack. Consequently any effective steps to make 
this country less dependent upon the inipoitation of the 
necessities of life in the present war would result in a great 
reduction of anxiety. 
The certain development of the submarine may render 
such vessels still more formidable as weapons of attack 
against sea-lxrne commerce in a future war, and no justifi 
cation exists for assuming tliat anything approaching entire 
immunity can be obtained. Therefore, the experience of 
the present war leads to the conclusion that any measures 
which resulted ii. rendering the United Kingdom less depend 
ent on the importation of foodstuffs during tlie period of 
a future war, and so in reducing the volume of sea-borne 
traffic, would greatly relieve the strain upon the Navy and 
add immensely to the national security. 
This statement by the Admiralty refers, like the question, 
to the submarine menace only; but if for "submarine 
menace" we substitute some such words as "hostile navies," 
there is a strilyng similaritj' to the views put forward by the 
Admiralty before the Royal Commission of Food Supplies 
in 1905. At that date the submarine was little more than a 
mechanical toy ; certainly not the chief daifger we had to 
face, but if one studies the evidence given before that Com- 
mission, and the conclusions drnwn from it, one becomes 
impressed with the fact that conditions have not been much 
changed by this new feature of naval warfare. Admiral 
Sir John Hopkins, who had himself been in corrimand of the 
Mediterranean Fleet, said, on February 12th, 1904, that our 
ships could only come through that sea with the very greatest 
danger. He agreed, with other naval witnesses, to precisely ■ 
similar views to those contained in the quotation from the 
.■\dmiralty to-day. Yet successive Governments have done 
nothing since that time, either to ensure our food supply or 
to encourage increased production at home. 
There is one important fact to be remembered in 
connection with the question of indemnifying shipowners 
against loss, and that is that payment is only made when 
loss occurs, and consequently only when the food is not 
delivered : any expenditure which the Government or the 
community may incur by encouraging increased home pro- 
duction is only paid when the food has materialised. That 
means security. Nothing else will attain it. 
Mr. Asquith instructed this Committee to consider the 1 
question "in the interest of national security." The whole 
tenour of their report is evidence that this was the only 
consideration they kept in view. The policy they recom- 
mend will give us security'. It remains for the country to 
see that that policy is adopted in its entirety. 
The Auxiliary Cruiser 
By N. M. F. Corbett 
["H.M. auxiliary cruiser has been lost at sea with all 
hands. It is presumed that she struck a mine during the 
gale on the night of the 12th instant. The relatives have 
been informed. — Admiralty Official."] 
THE da\' closed in a wrath of cloud. The gale — • 
Like a fierce beast that shuns the light of day. 
Skulking within the jungle till his prey 
Steals forth at dusk to water at the well, — 
Now leapt upon her, howling. Steep and swift,. 
The black sea boiled about her sky-flung bows. 
And in the shrouds, the winds in mad carouse 
Screamed : and in the sk3''s paU was no rift. 
And it was cold. Oh, bitter cold it was. 
The wind-whipped spray-drops froze before they fell 
And tinkled on the iron decks hke hail ; 
And every rope and block was cased in glass. 
And ever wild and \vilder grew the night. 
Great seas lunged at her, bellowing in wrath ; 
Contemptuous, to sweep her from their path. 
And not, in all that waste, one friendly light. 
.Alone, spray-bhnded, through the clamorous murk. 
By skill and courage besting the hungry sea, 
Mocking the tempest's fury, staggered she. 
The storm is foiled : now for the Devil's work. 
The swinging bows crash down into the trough, 
And with a sudden flame the sea is riven. 
And a dull roar outroars the tempest even. 
Her engine's pulse is stilled. It is enough. 
Oh, have you ever seen a foundered horse — 
His great heart broken by a task too great 
For his endurance, but unbroken yet 
. His spirit — striving to complete his course. 
Falling at last, eyes glazed and nostrils wide. 
And have not ached with pity. Pity now 
A brave ship shattered by a coward blow 
That once had spurned the waters in her pride. 
And can you picture — you who dwell secure 
In sheltered houses, warm and filled with light, — 
The loneliness and terror of that fight 
In shrieking darkness ? Feel with them, the sure 
Foundation of their very world destroyed. 
The sluggish lifting of the lifeless hull. 
Wallowing ever deeper till, with a dull 
• Half-sob she plunges and the seas are void. 
Yet — Oh, be sure, they did not pass alone 
Into the darkness all uncomforted 
For round them hovered England's mighty Dead 
To greet them : and a pale poop lanthorn shone 
Lighting them homeward, and a voice rang clear — 
As when he cheered his own devoted band — 
" Heaven's as near by sea as by the land," 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert hailed them, "Be of cheer." 
