[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] J 0. Boving asks,
" Is it too-much to expect_ the average reader to pay more than fleeting attention ? " to his most excellent article entitled " What is wrong with agri- culture ? " The answer of every man who loves England should be—that if such practical measures as Mr. Boving proposes could be made a political issue, he would vote for no one who was not pledged to support them.
As one who takes a considerable part in seeking to transfer young men from blind alley urban jobs to rural work in our great Overseas Dominions, I welcome Mr. Boving's proposals as being pre-eminently sane and easy of accomplishment if we could but persuade our legislators to take any real interest in home agriculture. To-day the British Government (through the Ministry of Labour and Oversea Settlement Department) is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds per annum in training men for an agricultural life overseas.
Would it not be wiser to spend twice the amount in carrying out the proposals as mtlined by Mr: Boving ? This- would probably result in producing far more farmers than the number for whom' farms are available in this country. So Much the better. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would gladly take all the surplus, giving them every facility and guidance ip taking up farms of their own.
A combined effort to educate the youth of this country to take up farming as a career—along the lines suggested by Mr. Boving—would- not only save us from the cry that the Dominions are denuding us of our best agricultural workers, but would give the Old Country all the farmers she can accommodate, and at the same time have many more to spare for the Dominions which so truly need thern:—I am, Sir, &c., CYRIL BAVIN. • George Williams House, 13, Russell Square, W.C. 1.
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