WAR AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEES. (Hansard, 10 April 1941)

§ Mr. Granville (Eye)

I desire to raise the question of the war agricultural committees, their methods of working and their powers. The hon. Gentleman who preceded me will, I hope, forgive me if I do not exactly follow his line of argument. I appreciate his point of view, but I gave specific notice that I wished to raise this particular aspect. I do not apologise for raising this question of the war agricultural committees, because it was recently demonstrated in a Debate in this House that this is one of the most vital questions, affecting probably the most important problem that we shall have to face in the coming months in the national war effort in relation to the Battle of the Atlantic.

I want to say at once that I am not opposed to the war agricultural committees, to their work and what they have to do. I recognise that they have an extremely difficult job, but I would suggest that the great powers that they do 1807 possess should be used with common sense. In my view, there is no doubt that in many parts of the country, or at least in some districts, these war agricultural committees and the district committees need overhauling by the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Agriculture. In Suffolk alone—and I wish to raise this question because it does affect Suffolk and my own constituency—I understand that 80 tenancies have been terminated since the right hon. Gentleman took these powers. I agree that a bad farmer should be dispossessed. As was demonstrated in a Debate recently, the House of Commons is behind the right hon. Gentleman in a general desire to give powers to the agricultural committees, and to see that those powers are carried out to the full. But I would like to ask the right hon. Gentleman if he could tell the House, and through the House tell the agricultural community, what is a bad farmer. I hope the right hon. Gentleman will tell us. Does it mean that he is a bad cultivator, or does it mean that he happens to be an unfortunate, struggling, small farmer, who has been the victim of an agricultural control system which has left 10 years of depression and a succession of agricultural Ministers and their policies round his neck? I should like to ask the right hon. Gentleman who is the judge of whether a farmer is a bad cultivator or not.

I understand that the war agricultural committee officials have power to say what a particular field shall grow and how a farm shall be cultivated, and that they have the right to dispossess a farmer until three years after the war. What perhaps happens in some districts—I have certainly had information that it happens in my own constituency in Suffolk—is that it boils down to a question of agricultural opinion between an official and a farmer who, I submit, ought to know his farm, when very often not only he but his father and grandfather before him have cultivated it and know what each field will grow. If the right hon. Gentleman has these powers, I submit that it is not fair and reasonable to dispossess small farmers without a right of appeal. A local official may be turning out a man whom he considers to be a bad farmer within the meaning of the regulations, but, on the 1808 other hand, that farmer may be a good cultivator. I know a number of these farmers; I know the sort of men they are. They have had years of depression to struggle through. It has been one long continual fight to keep their heads above water, many of them are now being pressed for the collection of tithe arrears from current revenue, they are mortgaged to the bank and to the merchants, and for years this type of farmer has lived and worked with a millstone of fear around his neck. You now suddenly come along and ask such an individual for increased food production, in the interests of the national war effort. I ask, as a simple, ordinary, elementary business proposition, how can that type of individual find the capital? How can he find the cash resources to meet his increased wages bill? How can he meet the extras demanded by the merchants for the purposes of credit if he cannot pay cash? How can he find the money for this extra outlay, to enable him to reach the output which the right hon. Gentleman wants to help the food production effort of the country? In addition, he may not be credit-worthy, and he may therefore feel that he is not justified in such circumstances in availing himself of the facilities which the right hon. Gentleman and his Ministry give in the various forms of credit.

§ Mr. Granville

I will quote from an official of the National Farmers' Union, who said: Farmers who have been forced by war agricultural committees to hand over their farms to others for the duration and three years to ensure maximum food production, will, when they resume possession, have to bear the cost of restoration, tithes and other charges. Many farmers may never be able to go back to their farms as they could not possibly meet the charges which will have mounted up. Is this right or just? I suggest that these small, struggling farmers may be good cultivators and anxious to increase their food production. In a recent Debate, the right hon. Gentleman referred to the ploughing up of golf courses, the reclama- 1809 tion of land and a policy of intensive cultivation, but the schemes and the programme which he outlined in that Debate require labour, equipment, machinery and time. It may be a policy for long-term realisation. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carnarvon Boroughs (Mr. Lloyd George)said that the 1940 harvest was quoted in a paper—I think it was the "Dairy Farmer"—as giving 1½ per cent. of the yield over 1939. I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman will get his food production from the various schemes which have been put forward by the Ministry, but I suggest that there is a vital need this year and now for an intensive and increased food production. No refutation has been made of the figure given by the right hon. Gentleman but I sincerely hope that it will mean that the schemes put into operation will result in an increased harvest and an increased yield this year.

I therefore appeal to the right hon. Gentleman. His best chance of getting an increase in food production this year for immediate purposes is by assisting the small farmers to take advantage of the various schemes introduced by him and his predecessor to enable them to intensify their production and increase the cultivation of the soil, which has already been ploughed over for a considerable number of years. The single test of all these schemes, and controls by local officials of the county war agricultural committees, is, shall we get an increased food production in this country to enable us to bridge the gap between our previous imports and the food production of our own farmers? The Minister should overhaul the committees. They were appointed when he had a great number of matters on his mind and it is up to him now to overhaul their personnel and working, and their instructions.

I appeal to him to remember that the small and struggling farmers are entitled to a fair deal when they are appealed to in time of war to help us out of our difficulties. They should have a right of appeal to enable them, these hard-working family farmers, to give their time and experience to assist our war effort. I ask the Minister to think out some method of giving these men financial assistance to enable them to carry on. They may not be creditworthy, but they may be good cultivators.

1810 The right hon. Member for Carnarvon Boroughs referred last week to the great mistake made by Germany in the last war of forgetting the vital part played in war strategy by agriculture. I believe this is probably one of the most important problems that this country has to face in the coming months. We have had many Ministers of Agriculture, and a very great and heavy responsibility rests upon the shoulders of my right hon. Friend. This country is made up of a mass of small farmers who want to play their patriotic part and to do their best. I appeal to my right hon. Friend not to rely upon steam-roller regulations or officialdom or red tape, but to give these farmers an opportunity to assist fully with the production of food, and in my view they will solve the problem of the Atlantic for you.