Sense and subsidy
From Mr S.G. Younger Sir: In 'Throw them to the wolves' (21 September) Michael Hanlon certainly gives the answer to the question 'Why do 400,000 country people make a protest march?' They march in the hope that the government will listen to country people with knowledge and experience, and not to the likes of Mr Hanlon. Arable land is not a commodity that can be abandoned like a seam of coal. In almost every case it is drained with clay tiles at five-yard intervals; these lead to a main drain which in turn discharges into a ditch. If you allow trees to grow on this, it will become irrecoverable as arable land. Over the years governments have prudently kept such land in production just in case it became imperative to do so. But Michael Hanlon is certain that it will never again be needed: his type are always so sure.
Gorse and heather for the Lake District: what a bonny picture! Where there is gorse there will be no heather, and where there are no sheep there will soon be a sea of ragwort, poisonous to cattle but 100 per cent controlled by sheep.
Subsidies may be undesirable, but I hardly think the nation would be happy with Michael Hanlon's simple solution.
S. G. Younger
Haddington, East Lothian
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