NATIONALISATION OF THE LAND

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 9

NATIONALISATION OF THE LAND

ELIMINATION OF MIDDLEMEN

SOCIALIST POLICY,

(FROM OUR Owil CORRESPONDENT.) '

LONDON, 6th February. An interesting document has appeared in the shape of a report by the Agricultural Committee of the Independent Labour Party.-As three'members of the. present Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, are on the National Council which has endorsed it, the report is deserving of some consideration. JThe first aim, the committee states, must be to bring about an immediate increase in farm labourers' wages, and,the decline of arable farming must be arrest; cd. The needs of the labourer as a human being, it is pointed out, must be regarded as the first charge' on the industry.. The wages paid in many districts at present are a disgrace to a civilised country. It is vital, therefore, that agricultural, wages shouldi be raised, and for this purpose the National Wages Board and county committees should be restored in England and Wales. In regard .to houses, it is urged that the State, in conformity to its general housing scheme,.. must provide something like 200,000 new cottages in the rural areas of England ( and Wales and about 75,000 in Scotland. By. this ,"and other mean's", the oppressive tied cottage' system must be ended.

MINISTRY OF EXPERTS.

"A Socialist policy must provide for the nationalisation of the land," the roport proceeds. "The terms of transfer from private to social ownership should be_ based, on the principle that private gain must be subordinate.to the common good. . .' The war-time County Agricultural Committees (C. A.C.') furnish a model on which .with some modifications, we would build the organisation of agriculture as a national service. These committees "should no longer be'subordinate to the County Councils. The best way of constituting the C.A.C. would be to let the farmers through their union nominate one-third, the labourers through their unions a third, and to compose the remaining third by the nomination of the Ministry , from experts. The^C.A.C. should have power to get rid of "any tenant who made an inadequate use of his land, or, cultivated below its standards, and to dispossess the landlord who had tolerated this bad cultivation. All proposed) changes and transfers ( of tenancy duVing the transition ; period' should be registered w;th it, j and it should have a power'of veto, so that it might, by laying down or altering conditions, gradually impose a higher standard of culti r vation, promote >arable farming, make opportunities for the big ■ industrialised farm, and give preference to tenants with higher technical qualifications. It would, as land fell to" it by dispossession, by the voluntary wish of landlords to soil out, or by .compulsory purchase, either farm it directly through a skilled manager (setting up a bbard, to control .such farms), or lease it io companies, individuals, and co-operative groups." " .The committee expresses the opinion that when Labour nationalises banking,, an agricultural bank should be created to advance credit arid capital to every.form of ec-operative enterprise—societies to purchase seed, fertilisers, and machinery; societies for marketing farmers' produce, and societies for starting rural industries, such as creameries, factories for bacon ?cnring, and1 the manufacture of jam, sugar, and starch.

Co-operation unaided, it is stated, is never likely to .be strong enough to tackle the central problem of food supply; our markets are dominated by imports. The key to is. that the State should, set up a chartered, disinterested monopoly for the purchase, importation^ and storage of foodstuffs, and should have, the sole right to import wheat, flour, and'meat. "The most obvious gain from this socialisation of the .wholesale trade in the chiefs foods," the committee adds "would be a great, economy by the elimination of the middlemen."