A DIGGER'S SCHEME.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17293, 3 November 1921, Page 3

A DIGGER'S SCHEME.

. » ■ The ability which, lies within t'iq power of many an Australian to assist closer settlement in the country is well illustrated in the scheme o£. a returned soldier, formerly of the First Australiaq TuiinGlling Company, now an oijtLardist at Batlow (stjys the "Sydney Morning Herald"). \Vithin the past tW6 years he acquired an area of 1100 acres in that district, flaHly planted wjtto apples. He did not start as a rich man; he bought in, in ia«t, at a remarkably low figure. He has already immensely improved the property by harnessing a small creek to run his own sawmill, and no intends shortly to turn the power to running his own cold storage chamber. Ho recently prepared a plan of his 'own to start what tie calls ''community settlement." He has made arrangements with six ex-officers of the British Army, all old Public School boys,. and each with about £IOOO capital. They will shortly leave England under contract with the ex-soldier orchardist to work for a year on his land, without wages, but with full keep, and during tlimr, time they wllj. learn thii local experience they want. At the end of the year's contract the Australian will arrange to subdivide his area and start them on planted blocks of their own. It looks like good business lor everybody—for the sis new settlers, for the Australian orchardist himself, and for yhe country. The ex-Digger saya h© has discovered that there are thousands of young men in the Old Country with a. little capital available, who are itching for a real chnnee to gefc a start in farming in Australia.