The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1917. A SELF SUPPORTING BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3092, 24 May 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1917. A SELF SUPPORTING BRITAIN

BtniiNG more than two years of *ar practically nothing was done to htimulate the home production of food in Great Britain, and it is on that account all the more creditable to the present Imperial Government b&at a policy is in train which P™ l " to transform tho condition oi British agriculture, and lift it into » position of importance from which it has been excludedfor half a century. When the, Lloyd George Oabinet took office in Decombcr lust iood stocks in Britain were alarmingly low—lower than they had been within.recollection. The country in any case had been importing between 70 and 80 per cent, of its staple cereal supply year by ycai|, and tho 1916 harvest was the worst for many years. The Government met these- conditions by formulating a policy which aims in the first instance at meeting , the war emergency by providing for tho greatest possible increase in the shortest possible time in the production of homegrown food, but represents in addition a definite beginning in a permanent reconstruction and expansion of British agricultural indusJiry, Mr. Lloyd George has been credited with the statement that under tho_ measures devised Britain can become a self-supporting country by 1918. No doubt the prediction relates to bare necessities, under war conditions. But even \\ith these reservations the achievement foreshadowed will entail an enor- ' inous developmet from conditions in which Britain imports the greater part of its essential food supplies from abroad. Britain's new agricultural policy is impressive equally on account of the boldness with which it is planned, and the prospects which it opens. Grappling with the immediate emergency the Government is acting with an energy and resource which promise to bear _ fruit in a, very large increase in agricultural production for '1917. One of the worst problems confronting the 'farmers was that of obtaining labour. ■ It was partly met by temporarily withdrawing many thousands of ploughmen and other skilled agricultural workers from the Army for the season of spring cultivation. . The area in cultivation as compared with last year is being further and very materially extended by tho use of a large and increasing number of motor tractors. Probably thousands of these useful machines have been working in British fields during tho present spring. In March last 580' tractors were working under tho control of the Food Production Department, and this no doubt represented only a fraction of the total number working under State and private control. An idea of the amount of work done by the tractors will be gathered from the statement of an authority that whereas one man with two horses will take approximately a day to plough one acre, one man working a comparatively small tractor will get through six to ten , acres, according to thi> nature of the soil and depth of ploughing. According to a recent report, the Imperial War Council has given its consent to an industrial project under which an American firm will establish works in the United Kingdom, and construct fifty thousand low-priced farm tractors in the space, of twelve months. Such figures, of course, have not yet been attained, but the increased production resulting from the activities of the present spring should assist materially to remedy and prevent a recurrence of the conditions brought about by the past neglect of agriculture, the bad harvest of last year, and the activity of the enemy submarines. That tho measures already taken promise to produce valuable results in the immediate future is largely due to the fact that the British Government has not been content to aim at a limited palliation of the immediate problem, but has set itself to revolutionise tho conditions which for many years past have enervated British agriculture and led to its decay. In ;\, general way theso conditions arc familiiiv. It is common knowledge, for instance,

that whi o Gorman agricultural production has doubled during the last lew decades, British agricultural production has been reduced to approximately half. The 3 position was summed up by a recent writer in Ihc, statement that millions of acres m Britain have gone out of intensive cultivation, and have reverted to grass, and millions Of agricultural workers have either Men _ swallowed up by the slums of the industrial towns or have gone abroad. The British countryside has been deserted. Since the soil and climate of Britain are superior to those of Germany these conditions are subject to remedy. It is possible for Britain to surpass what Germany has accomplished in agriculture, and this is what the Imperial Government has set itself to compass. In the speech in which he set out his agricultural policy Mr. Lloyd George pointed out that tho greatest obstacle to taking immediate action to meet the exigency of a dangerously limited home production of'food was the timidity of the farmer when it came to cutting up his pastures. The farmer, said the Prime Minister, had tho memory of bad years in his mind, and it was no use promising him big prices for his crops for next year and then dropping him gradually for the next few years. The method which the Imperial Government has adopted of overcoming the fears of tho farmer is to guarantee the following .minimum prices per quarter for wheat and oats:— Wheat. Oats. 191? 60s. Od. 3Ss. 6tl. 1918-19 555. Od. 325. Od. .1920-1-2 455. Od. 245. Od. 'Another bold departure is the institution of a f guaranteed minimum wage of 255. a week for agricultural ilabourers in' Great Britain. In Ireland wages are to be settled by Trade Boards. These, with the comprehensive measures that are being taken to promote improved methods by the extended introduction of machinery and otherwise, are the main heads of a policy which promises to lift agriculture in a year or two. into tho position it formerly enjoyed, and from which ,ifc was most unwisely dislodged, as the backbone industry of the United Kingdom. The launching of such an ambitious'scheme of agricultural the midst of a great war is unquestionably a great feat of statesmanship. It is not tho least important feature of the'new conditions arising that - they are bound to modify Britain's trade relations with the outer world and to some extent with her own Dominions. The extent to which tho Dominions will bo affected is meantime a somewhat open question. It is already plain, however, that tho Dominions, New Zealand amongst tho number, must, in laying their future plans, taken fullaccountof the changes that are being carried out in Great Britain.