It should be fully understood, however, that the Govern- ment
were not going to trade in corn, and that any buying or selling that they might do when they had laid in their six months' stock would be merely for the purpose of keeping their supplies from deteriorating. In order to create this national reserve cupboard the Government, in our opinion, should make purchases of corn in areas from whence corn is not drawn to this country by the natural operation of supply and demand—i.e., corn out of the reach of the ordinary trader. By doing so they might have to pay a rather higher price, but they would, while creating their corn reservoir, not interfere with private enterprise, which must always be our mainstay. We have one more word to say. It is not enough that at the moment there is plenty of corn in the country. We have got to look ahead and envisage what would happen if for any reason there were an unexpected failure to deliver corn which is now actually under contract to come to this country in several months' time. We want to be in a position to say that such failure would not mean a national crisis. Unless we are mistaken, there is not at the present moment anybody whose business it is to see that we have a reservoir and that it is always kept up to the safety mark. There are no doubt a good many excellent people working, and working well, at portions of the problem, but that is not enough.
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