BRITISH FARMING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 58, 6 September 1937, Page 10

BRITISH FARMING

NEW ZEALAND CRITIC

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, July 21. New Zealand farmers at present touring England have come to the conclusion that the 'Old Country's agricultural land is not being cultivated as it should be. Mr. A. M. Carpenter was emphatic on the point when interviewed at Nottingham. "There seem* to be a lot of English land out of cultivation," he said, "and if there was a war, though I don't like speaking of it, I think this would be one of the weakest lines of defence. It would take a year to get that land under cultivation and to get crops from it in an emergency." Mr.-Carpenter laid the blame on the poor living conditions for farm workers. The result was an inevitable drift to the cities where the standards of life were higher and the wages better. In New Zealand, he said, they were going all out to cultivate- their land, and the standard of agricultural workers' wages was almost double that paid in England. Mr. Carpenter was enthusiastic, however, regarding the reception in Britain of New, Zealand farm products. "We are proud because they receive such a good reception on the British market. We feel we are contributing something towards the cheaper breakfast and the cheaper dinner. We are an intensely loyal Dominion and we want to reciprocate Britain's trade by giving her preference with ours. The more you buy from us the more we can take from you," 'he added...