PRINCE AS FARMER

Southland Times, Issue 20148, 7 April 1927, Page 7

PRINCE AS FARMER

BUSINESS POINT OF VIEW. HOMELY DINNER GATHERING. London, March 11. The Prince of Wales and Prince Henry were the guests at the annual dinner of the Melton Mowbray and District Branch of the National Farmers' Union. Melton Mowbray is the headquarters of three famous hunts, the Quorn, the Belvoir, and the Cottesmore, and is, of course, a familiar resort of the Prince of Wales, and, in a lesser degree, of Prince Henry during the hunting season. There was a sense of informality about the dinner. Dress jackets represented the

counterbalanced by the more homely attire of many of the guests. The menu was roast beef, roast pork, roast mutton, fruit, tarts, and Stilton cheese. Instead of professional waiters and waitresses the daughters of local farmers, wearing simple blue dresses, attended to the guests. The Princes sat on each side of the chairman, Mr N. Squire, the chairman of the district branch of the National Farmers' Union. The Prince of Wales proposed the toast of the farmers nf the district. “Since I was last here,” he said, “I have acquired a farm in the Midlands. It is not very large, but it is big enough to give me a very keen in-

terest in local farming questions. If only by reason of their geographical position, the Midlands are the hub of English farming, and I felt from a purely business point of view a farm in these parts would be a very useful adjunct to my farms in the West of England. SECRET OF GOOD FARMING. “ ‘The business point of view,’ is the real secret of good farming. It is no use nowa-

there is no room for sentiment or eyewash in the administration of it. The farmer has to be a bit of a chemist, a bit of a botanist, and a bit of a mechanical engineer, but all these bits will not make a farmer unless his corner-stone is a sound business

sense. The old idea that a farm can run itself is quite out of date. Farms can no more run themselves successfully than a factory or any other productive concern. It is a matter of careful scientific management, with a very shrewd eye on the main chance. All this has been said often by people who have agricultural experience far greater than my own, but for the sake of those who are training to succeed the present generation, I cannot over-emphasise that the chances of making good are very much stronger when approached from the angle of the business “I am not laying stress on this point because I think there is any lack of business sense or viewpoint, either in Leicester

or in Nottingham. I certainly would not say that. I would not come as a new Midland farmer to criticise you who had been here for years and years. I really want to make a good impression. (Laughter and cheers.) I have seen ycur farms in Leicestershire, and the mere seeing them shows that this business sense exists. You have to be up very early in the morning to sell a pup to any Midland farmer. (Ixiud laughter and cheers.) It is ven’ sad for us who are able to afford to hunt that the season is coming to an end. Having become a Midland farmer, I have a summer interest in this part of the country as well as a winter interest, and I look forward to seeing you in the summer in a very informal way. In the meantime I wish you the very’ best luck and prosperity for this year.”