BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17011, 19 November 1918, Page 6

BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

AFTER-WAR ■ DEVELOPMENT.

The vital necessity of more development work in the field of British agriculture was stressed :by Mr. Lloyd George in a recent speech in Manchester. Dealing with ' after-war problems generally, he said,:—Take.- the most important of national industries, agriculture. Agriculture in the past has been Overlooked in this country. • It has been neglected, with the result that :we have been dependent very largely Upon lands across the s«as for our food. We have realised during war the perils of this position. We have been dependent on othersj not because Great Britain cannot produce food, but because we never realised the importance of It is in the highest interests of the community that the land in this country,should be cultivated to its fullest capacity. I doubt' whether there is & civilised country ■in the whole world where agriculture has received less attention at the hands of the State. There has beun a good deal of talk of small holdings and allotments,-and ♦here has been a good deal Of rapid scratching on the surface; often by men who know very little about it, but the real problem of cultivating land to its utmost capacity has never 1 been tackled. In the future .ve must see | that this matter receives the necessary ati tention and encouragement. The cultivation of the land is the basis of national strength and prosperity, and the cultivation of the land includes the minerals under the land, we have made an extravagant and wasteful use of these rich deposits. By a conversion of .. those re-' sources to a large extent into electric ' newer we could not merely extend existing industries, but new industries could be established under healthier conditions all over tho land, and there would be a saving of the cost of production, and increased wages could be much better borne without increao?d cost to the consumer or impairTsiff our chances of competing with neutral markets. .'.■