" AGRICULTURE AND DOLLARS " SIR, —In your issue of August
15th, Mr. H. D. Walston catalogued the factors which he considers "clamp the brake upon agricultural production." He heads the list with " shortage of labour," but he nowhere mentions the shortage of machinery and spare parts which is at least as important. With adequate supplies of new machinery and with the necessary spares for their maintenance, the labour problem on the farm would be half solved. Without them the 20% increase in agricultural production asked for by the Prime Minister will be unattainable.
I went to Holland this summer with a party of other farmers to see how the Dutch were managing their remarkable agricultural re-organisa- tion. On landing at Rotterdam the first thing we saw was a large consign- ment of British tractors and hay-rakes being unloaded on the quay. These implements can only be obtained after heart-breaking delays in England. The export drive is desperately important, but surely the production of food for those who make our goods for export is not only important but vital. We cannot produce the food unless we have the machines and the spare parts for them. " Give us the tools and we will finish the job "—or at least make a better shot at it—Yours faithfully, B. C. R. Mazola,. Colpitts Farm, Slaley, Northumberland.
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