§ I will tell the House therefore, briefly, what I propose doing in regard to this and all kindred matters I have dwelt upon. There is a certain amount of money—not very much—spent in this country in a spasmodic kind of way on what I call the work of national development—in light railways, in harbours, in indirect but very meagre assistance to agriculture. I propose to gather all these grants together into one Development Grant, and to put in this year an additional sum of £200,000. 494 Legislation will have to be introduced, and I will then explain the methods of administration and the objects in greater detail, but the grant will be utilised in the promoting of schemes which have for their purpose the development of the resources of the country. It will include such objects as the institution of schools of forestry, the purchase and preparation of land for afforestation, the setting up of a number of experimental forests on a large scale, expenditure upon scientific research in the interests of agriculture, experimental farms, the improvement of stock—as to which there have been a great many demands from people engaged in agriculture, the equipment of agencies for disseminating agricultural instruction, the encouragement and promotion of co-operation, the improvement of rural transport so as to make markets more accessible, the facilitation of all well-considered schemes and measures for attracting labour back to the land by small holdings or reclamation of wastes. Every acre of land brought into cultivation, every acre of cultivated land brought into a higher state of cultivation, means more labour of a healthy and productive character. It means more abundant food—cheaper and better food for the people.
§ The sum which I propose to set aside for these large and diverse purposes may seem disproportionate, especially as a good deal of capital expenditure will necessarily be invested in the carrying out more especially of the experiments. For the purpose of afforestation schemes, at any rate at the earlier stages, when the expenditure will be particularly heavy, I propose that borrowing powers should be conferred upon the Commission directing the distribution of the grant, though I intend to avoid the necessity of resort to loans in connection with the capital expenditure required for other parts of the scheme.
§ Mr. JOHN REDMONDDoes this include Ireland?
§ Mr. LLOYD-GEORGEOh, yes. I should hope to retain a great deal of money spent in Ireland for the purposes of which I have spoken. I should hope to attain this end by what may at first sight appear a proposal of a more drastic character. Hitherto all surpluses due either to unexpected accessions to the revenue or savings upon the Estimates have passed automatically into the old Sinking Fund for the liquidation of debt. I propose that all these unanticipated accretions and economies shall in future pass into the De- 495 velopment Fund, so as to constitute a reserve for the purpose of money spent on the recommendations of the Commissioners, but under the direction of Parliament, on such objects as I have too compendiously sketched. The days of surpluses are not quite gone, and I sincerely hope, although the omens are for the moment bad, that the days of economising in public Departments are not over. Last year the various Departments saved over two millions, and I feel confident that we shall not look in vain for a similar spirit of cautious and conscientious dealing with public money in the course of the coming years.
We have more especially during the last 60 years in this country accumulated wealth to an extent which is almost unparalleled in the history of the world, but we have done it at an appalling waste of human material. We have drawn upon the robust vitality of the rural areas of Great Britain, and especially of Ireland, and spent its energies recklessly in the devitalising atmosphere of urban factories and workshops as if the supply were inexhaustible. We are now beginning to realise that we have been spending our capital, and at a disastrous rate, and it is time we should make a real concerted, national effort to replenish it. I put forward this proposal, not a very extravagant one, as a beginning.