Mr. Murrough Wilson, on Friday, February 10th, drew attention to
the desperate position of the agricultural com- munity. Mr. Acland said that if the labourers' 'wages were still further reduced, the young men would drift into the towns. He opposed the Geddes Committee's proposal, to cut down the vote for agricultural education. Mr. Royce, for the Labour Party, said that he would discourage emigration and would convert more of the grassland into arable. He regretted the Wages Boards but admitted that the farmer who was losing money could not pay high wages. Captain Pretyman explained the, proposals of the Land Union, which were the minimum of relief necessary to save the industry from ruin. Sir A. Griffith Boscawen, the Minister for Agriculture, was conciliatory and cautious in his reply. He said that forty-four out of fifty-eight Conciliation Committees_hadnaade agreements between farmers and labourers. He ridiculed the_ Labour Party's proposal.' to
abolish the landlord, agriculture's best friend. His department would be a very bad landlord.
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