The number of books devoted to the land, the farmer
and the general regeneration of the countryside shows no sign of lessening. Sometimes one wonders what audience is being addressed by them. We have pleas for almost every kind of revolution, from land-nation- alisation to wholemeal-bread. So far I have seen no suggestion that there is room for a pretty wide post-war education scheme for farmers.. For it seems to me that we often tolerate in the farming industry sloppy conditions that no other industry would tolerate for a week. For example, I recently talked to a farm-labourer who, when the rate of 34s. was in force, was asked by his employer to do Sunday over- time; he agreed, but when the time came for over-time pay he was met by the astonishing reply of "Oh! that's all in! " No other industry would tolerate such conditions.
Previous page
