A ROYAL OPTIMIST.

Southland Times, Issue 19172, 16 February 1924, Page 10

A ROYAL OPTIMIST.

PRINCE OF WALES HOPEFUL OF THE FARMING FUTURE. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was the guest of honour at the annual dinner of the Farmer.'’ Club and the Central and Associated Chambers of Agriculture recently in the King’s Hall of the Holborn Restaurant, which was attended by 350 members and friends. Lord Bledisloe (chairman of the Farmers’ Club), who presided, proposed the health of the Qiiben, Queen Alexandra, the Prince of Wales, and other members of the Royal Family, and said that never in English history had the Royal family been held in greater honour and esteem than to-day. The Prince of Wales was the most popular man in the British Empire. They knew him as an intrepid soldier, a great Empire missionary, a good sportsman, and an indefatigable worker. But that evening they welcomed him as a fellow-farmer, realising as they did that their industry occupied , a very genuine place amid the interests and activities of his busy life. They all knew that his Royal Highness owned some of the finest stock of many descriptions to be found in this country, and nothing caused greater public satisfaction than when, as during the last few days, some of the premier awards at their great shows were allotted to his Royal Highness. They had seen evidence of his agricultural enthusiasm and of his activity in agricultural pursuits in his visit to his ranch in Canada, where, under the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, were to be found some of Uie best type of Shorthorn cattle, ClydesdaN horses, Hampshire and Shropshire sheep, and Dartmoor ponies. When the. Prince crossed the Atlantic they began to hear of him grooming Horses, cleaning out cattle stalls, washing cattle, driving the binder, loading up silage into waggons, and filling silos. They were also told that his Royal Highness took part in the everyday tasks Of the agricultural worker in order to ascertain the nature of' their work and the general conditions of the life. Indeed, Lord Bledisloe continued, his Royal Highness. took a most sympathetic interest in the work and in the comfort of those who were employed in the actual tasks of. husbandry. He gave them all a splendid lead in his conception of the duties of those who were landowners and farmers. Was it not conceivable that, although in the trough of agricultural depression, our premier industry might, under the enlightened industry of the Prince of Wales, be on the eve of a great development, followed by a period of enhanced prosperity ? His Royal Highness was a keen aftd sensible breeder of the nest stock. The sort of stock they saw in his name at the great agricultural shows in this country made it clear that he did not regard the ownership of live stock and his agricultural activities as a mere hobby, but as a commercial undertaking. THE PRINCE’S OPTIMISM. The Prince oiWales said, in reply: I have a dual task to perform, first of all to thank you very much for the cordial way in which you have drunk to this toast, and for the kind words of the chairman. I wish to assure you what a privilege I consider it that you should invite me to your dinner. My second task is to propose the toast “Success to Agriculture.” Under the conditions we are living in at present that is not such an easy task. (Laughter.) It might even be considered by pessimists as involving something like reading the funeral service over a dead man. (Renewed laughter.) I absolutely refuse to take that view. I maintain that British agriculture is very far indeed from being dead. I think it is very much alive, and it is most certainly kicking very vigorously against the troubles which beset it, and it is determined to find the right way out. You can look upon me as a farmer this evening, a farmer both at home and in Canada. I was very glad of the opportunity of going over to Canada and of really learning something —about agriculture. The number of people who pass by fields of stocks have really no idea of the hard work involved in putting them up. (Laughter. l I shall never pass by such fields again without feeling thankful that I have not had to do the work myself. (Laughter.) Although lam a very enthusiastic farmer, I am afraid I am a very inefficient. and ignorant one. I should be the last to ignore *the very bad time that agriculture has had in the last few years. The mighty upheaval of the Great War, followed by the severe and rapid drop in prices of agricultural produce, has hampered the farmers very considerably; in fact, I am afraid it has broken many of them. A great number have suffered a loss from which it will take all their efforts and energies to recover. It seems to be traditional to call us farmers grumblers. (Laughter.) I don’t think we are any worse grumblers than any other section of the business community. But at the present moment farmers have most certainly got something very substantial to grumble about, and I am very glad to have this opportunity of expressing to farmers as a whole my sympathy and fellowfeeling as well as my great admiration for the way they are sticking it. I have great confidence in the courage and enterprise of British agriculturists as a means of pulling agriculture through, and I am sure that the great agricultural industry of this country, which has weathered so many storms in the past, will emerge triumphant from the present trouble. * A LITTLE MORE LIGHT. There is a Jittle daylight to be seen. Prices are possibly more stable, and though some of them are a good deal lower than we care for them to be, I cannot believe that the over-production of certain commodities which has depressed * prices so severely will continue indefinitely. It is a hopeful sign that farmers, or most of them, are becoming alive to the importance of education and research. That, is a direction in which you all know that our chairman has rendered most valuable service. I think, as a matter of fact., he is the only man who has had the coura’ge, and possibly the knowledge, to quote a chemical formula on an agricultural subject in the Hguse of Commons. (Laughter.) We all of us value and appreciate his unwearied efforts,on behalf of agriculture. It is research that I have alluded to as of tremendous assistance in eradicating disease from plants and animals, in cultivating better varieties of seeds, and in demonstrating more efficient methods of marketing and improving our live stock. If farmers could utilise to the full the information that is issued from agricultural colleges and research stations, and at the same time co-operate with one another, not merely in the purchase of raw materials, but also for the distribution of product, the outlook of British agriculture would most certainly improve. IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH. The present outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is causing very serious' loss and interference with trade, and has denuded both' the Birmingham and Smithfield shows. Unless we can eradicate this disease—and research is the only way of discovering its origin means of preventing further infliction—it is going to be a very serious matter for the live stock of this country. There is another evil result of this disease, and one 'which I think will appeal to quite ,ft few present, 'and that is its interference

with the most ancient of agricultural pursuits, I mean the sport of fox-hunting. (Laughter and cheers.) Fox-hunters owe a tremendous lot to the consideration and the courtesy of agriculturists whose land is our field. (Cheers.) But in spite of all the trouble that agriculture is going through at the present time, I should like to feel an optimist, and anyway look forward with hope and confidence. I think we in this country are inclined to depreciate ourselves and our institutions. Agriculture need not have any fear in comparing itself with agriculture in other lands, and our best farmers have no equal in the world. We are engaged in the most ancient and the most fundamental of all industries, an industry vital to the welfare of the community, and one that affords the best means of assuring the maintenance of a thrifty, industrious population living under healthy and happy conditions. Let all of us landowners, farmers, and labourers, to whom we owe a tremendous lot, co-operate in helping to promote the “success of agriculture.”