Penalty of Neglecting Agriculture.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 26 April 1917, Page 3

Penalty of Neglecting Agriculture.

4 THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ■ CULTIVATION. (Mr Jesse Collins, M.P., now 36 years of age, have a>> interview to a Press representative on t)he. subject of how to increase the food production of the country. W,e,-'ara now lie said, the penalty of the 50 or 60 years' neglect of agriculture. Some of us from time to time have warned successive Governments that the time would come when such neglect would be vital to the existence of the country but our notes of warning were treated like voices crying in the wilderness. It useless repining on the past. The question is to repair the mischief as quickly as possible. Mr Prothero is in t!he rights place o.t the Board of Agriculture. Under the ■Coalition Government the President of the Board of Agriculture was a mere-figure, with no power, and had to do the behest of the Government, who never saw clearly what was wanted. The measures Mr Prothero is taking are very good, and will bear fruit, but I am inclined to think that the result, however good, will not meet the requirement in the present crisis. As regards food supply, this (should be the work of the Government acting 'through the Board of Agriculture and the Government alone. As the Government has taken over control of munitions supply, so it must be responsible for the food supply. The real remedy is to put in cultivation the millions of acres of waste land which exist in this otintrv. But the Government must acquire the land and cultivate it themselves. The question of labour can be met by employing the thousands of enemy prisoners on the land. The time is very op-

portnne. The Government should acquire iby compulsion, if necessary, waste lands, the price of which'should be based on the present rentals. On this basis the cost of waste land would be from £1 to £2 an acre, and good agricultural land oan be 'bought for £8 an acre, which is the price, now being paid for it in the open market. Promptness, however, is everything, in the face of the submarine menace. Wot a moment should be lost.