POtatoes
The Potato Marketing Board has hired an aircraft with which to count pota- toes. This may not seen credible, but it is merely one of the more decorative consequ- ences of a planned economy. Every year, in late summer, the Board's employees fan out across the countryside, searching for unsanctioned potatoes. It is a difficult and thankless task. It takes a trained eye to distinguish a potentially surplus potato, taxed at £180 a hectare, from a law-abiding potato, worth only £36 a hectare to the Board. Nor are illegal potato patches necessarily easy of access. A farmer suffi- ciently depraved to grow such a crop will hardly scruple to conceal it from the Board's inspectors. That is why the aircraft must be used, year after year. As you depart on your holidays, spare a thought for the Board's unceasing efforts to ensure that every potato that comes into the world is wanted.
Previous page
