ENGLISH FARMING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 8, 2 October 1937, Page 17

ENGLISH FARMING

Our Own Oofeepondent.)

"Evidences of Decadence," Says Lord Bledisloe LACK OF CAPITAL

(From

LONDON, August 25. Lord Bledisloe bas written a letter to Tbe Times, wbicb bas caused bim to be referred to in a leading article as an "observanfc correspondent. ' ' New Zealand's former Governor-General gives support to a "pregnant suggestion" tbat all capital invested in farm equipment be insulated against income tax and estate duty. And be contmues: — Since my return two years ago from New Zealand, after five years' ab-' sonce, ,the evidences of agricultural decadence in tbis once agriculturally pre-eminent Old Country wbicb struck me most forcibly are: — , (!) The green rubbish, classified as grass', growing in most of our pastures; (2) The amazing and significant lack of livestoclc grazing upon them; and (3) The tumbie-down condition of iarm buildings and inadequacy of up-to-date plant and equipment. Obviously, ownors and oceupiers are alike destitute of capital, the want being most obvious where the two roles are combined. Personally, I am not a hostile critie, qua agricultural pQliey, of the present ; Government, and still less of tbe present Minister for Agriculture. Tbey ; have inbexited a legacy of balf a century of urban ignoi-ance, myopia, and unconvinced vacillation. Tbese bave ■ been e^upled witb an undiscriminating ,,bias agamst agricultural landowners (good, bad, indifi'erent and technicallylgnorant), wbo are expected nevertbe-. less to -supply two-tbirds of tbe capital required for tbe efficient conduct of tbe nation 's most vital industry. Unless and' until this policy is far-sigbtedly and conrageously reversed in tbe interests of national security, even lime and phosphates', essential tbougb tbey are, will not bring back continuous feijtility, ipdustrial enterprise ,or economio vitality to Britain's countryside, and our farming community will remain (quite undeserved) mendicants on tbe public purse. * • ' ' Owners wbo farm tbeir own la,nd s and thus add . materially, by their b.Wjn unlucrative enterprise, to national wealth and national security, are specially deserving of the suggested 'insulatiou' against publie burdens. " An aecompanying leading article, inspired by Lord Bledisloe 's ohservance, condemns the prevalence of weeds as "eigns of decay in farming practice which the good countryman must abhor, "

Decreas© in La.hourerB In pointing out "a moro fundamental xeason for the prevalence of weeds than the vagaries of the season," the article continues: — "Agriculture (in England) bas been passing tbrougb lean times, and it has Deon difficult for farmers" to find the money to employ a full staff of men to attend to tbe iiner points of good farming practice. During tbe last 16 years tbe land of England and Wales bas lost i-oughly 240,000 men. Tbe land of Scotland bas fared no better. As other inUustries bave recovered prosperity, and bavo been able to oli'er more employment at good wages, agriculture bas bad to meet keen competitiou in tbe labour market. Tbe rearmament pro» grarnme, including tbe creation of new aerodromes and more cominodious barracks, and tbe constant demands of public works, sucb as Toad widening and housing schemes, have aggravated in many districts tbe farmers' difficulties in retaining enough men to work tbeir farms as tbey sbould be worked. "These extra demands on tbe labour force of tbe rural districts may pass in tbe course of tbe next year or two, and, if tbe Government 's agricultural policy puts the farming industry on a sound paymg basis again, tbe land may get back some of tbe labour whicli it now lacks. There are tbose wbo see tbe Board of Education as tbe villain of tbe piece in this drift from the land, and it is all too true that few of 'the Doys now Ipaving village scbools will f ollow tbeir f ather 's vocation. Tbe education of a country ebild must be considered far from complete if it does not inculcate a standard of values tbat discounts: the attraction of tbe town as oli'ering tbe only life worth living. ""Wberever tbe truth of tbis matter may lie, it will not be ignored that the niecbanisation of agricultural production in one form or anotber bas enabled farmers to !manage witb fewer men, and to pay better wages to tbose men tbey euiploy. But a look Tound thq i'arpiing districts just; now, showing ull 'too clearJy tho provalenco of woeds m cultivated fields and the encroachmenfc of braclren on bill grazing, s', gives the impression that agriculture cquld with advantage to itself and the nation employ considerably more handg thpn the 630,000 fann workers who in England and Wales have kept faithful to ihe land." i