Mr. Lloyd George on Food Production
Speaking at a luncheon last Wednesday, Mr. Lloyd George returned to the question of home food production which he has been pressing again and again recently in Parliament and out. He reminded his audience that it was Germany who overlooked this question in the last war, with the result that she was starved into surrender ; but she has not forgotten it in this war. He pointed out that our agricultural position is worse now than it was in 1914, with 21- million fewer acres under tillage, and that there are many more millions of acres that might be brought back into cultivation. He par- ticularly emphasised the urgency of land drainage, for which the Government so far has allotted only insignificant sums. Indeed, finance is of the essence of the question. More land must be ploughed and prepared for the plough by drainage, and more definite assurances must be given to the farmers that they will get an adequate return for their produce. Nor must the question of marketing be neglected. Market gar- deners and small growers are being urged to grow more fruit and vegetables, but they need a definite undertaking that there will be a market for their produce and a minimum price. On the same day Mr. Chamberlain was encouraging the farmers to fresh enterprise by assuring them that, what- ever happened, they would not be " let down " after the war.
Previous page
