ABSTRACT
The Secretary of State’s departments are like a large departmental store, where a very large number of commodities are handled between which it is not easy to find any very close or logical connection except that there is a demand for them. From the number of people employed and the value of the product, agriculture is Scotland’s major industry, and the Secretary of State exercises, through the Department of Agriculture for Scotland, a very wide range of powers and responsibilities for its conduct. This chapter shows the work that is done by the Department of Agriculture for Scotland on the Secretary of State’s behalf. The widest of the Secretary of State’s responsibilities for the land is that, as planning Minister, the ultimate decision on most questions of land use lies with him. In the remoter parts of Scotland, agricultural interest predominates and the Department of Agriculture has become responsible for encouraging a number of improvements in the Highlands and Islands.
