Mr. Hudson's Stand
The debate on the Government's much-discussed " pledge to the farmers " on Wednesday caused Ministers less embarrassment than was expected, and it was not necessary, after all, to carry the dis- cuss:on over to a second day. Even Mr. Hudson's critics were constrained to admit that there had been no breach of pledge. The pledge was given after Dunkirk, when it was essential to increase food-production to the maximum, and the farmers were entitled to an assurance that the result of their efforts, particularly when marginal land was brought into cultivation, would not leave them worse off. The Government guaranteed fixed prices, at a remunera- tive level, and an assured market, and added that " prices will be subject to adjustment to the extent of any substantial changes in the cost of production." That was always intended to mean that the farming community as a whole was assured that increasing costs would not be allowed to diminish the net income of the industry as a whole, and it is a matter of incontrovertible fact that the net income of the industry is far higher today, even after the latest wage-increases, than it was when the pledge was given. There is, of tour se, the fundamental difficulty that price-levels sufficient to ensure a competence to the small man farming poor land would give the farmers of the best land quite inordinate profits. There is no obvious solution of that problem, for costs and prices cannot be adjusted farm by farm, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer has promised to consider whether the case could be met by any income- tax adjustments and Mr. Hudson is to allot a further £2,500,000 to milk-producers, for the special benefit of the small man. What emerged most definitely from the debate was the farmers' concern lest they should be " let down " after this war as they claim that they were after the last. That is reasonable enough, but it is quite a different question from the subject of debate and provides no sort of justification for charging the Government with breaking pledges which plainly have not been broken. Mr. Hudson has offered to discuss a long-term programme with the farmers. That is all to the good, but recriminations must be dropped once for all before the talks begin.
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