THE HOMELAND FOR THE SOLDIER.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIX, Issue 3998, 25 November 1918, Page 1

THE HOMELAND FOR THE SOLDIER.

AN ASPECT OF. REPATRIATION

(By Roy Devereux.)

Although the demobilisation of ou armies is to-day but :i contingency oi the future, it may be of a,d'stant future, the problem of how the soldi oils to be reconverted into a civilian with t.he least possible disturbance i f industrial conditions is already occupying the Ministry of Reconstruction and its military advisers. It is, moreover, a problem which contains an unknown factor, for it is impossible to predict in what state of nvnd and soul the soldiers will return h' me They will in most cases be men whthave spent years, often the best, years, of their lives, in the fiery furnace of war. In spite of an occa ional ten-day glimpse of "Blighty," the average soldier of the British Expeditionary Force will have become accustomed to; a life which is totally different in every respect from the life he left behind him. He will have become accustomed to discipline far more rigid than anything he had known in factory, office, or shop. But within this military organisation he is in some respects freer than he has ever been. He is emancipated from the four walls within which he'worked, moved, and had his being, and also from the society of his family. War with its diabolic excitement, its danger, and its dirt, has inured him to an open-air existence under the sim plest conditions. And before the final defeat of our enemies heralds thr restoration of peace to a world ir ashes, the average British soldier wfl have a long period of service with th/ Allied armies to look back upon.

The amazing adaptability of human nature notwithstanding,, it is inconceivable that to the majority of ow fighting men the return to civilian life will mean no more than the replacing of the khaki uniform by the old working suit. It is easier to turn a sword into a ploughshare than a rifle into a, pen. What is to become of those men who even now regard the office stool to which their s \\s as well as their bodies were formerly tied wit,h horror ? How are they to find employment after the war tha* will enable them to con+inue t>»'% active open-air life to which they have become accustomed ?

These are the men on whom w must rely, for the colonisation o r Great B-itain. We shall ne"d the' far more than any of our overseas dependencies if the millions of acre^which the U-boat, campaign has forced us to cultivate.. are to be kept up to their present level of p oductiveness. We shall need them to m^te 1 England the granary of the Allies until poor devastated France is abl to repair the ruin of the war. Tlv c fact and a strong current of national sentiment is responsible for the scheme already elaborated by th CT British Board of Agriculture to enable any demobilised s ldie** who d fj ; sires it to settle upon-and u'lHmaM" i to possess a bit of his' native lam' The experiment sanction°d under th ; Small Holdings Act of 1916 has prov^tf such a success that the 8,0 rto acres in creased to 80.000 acres. Three> Itc-" estates in England and one in Wai s are in process of being converted int' pioneer colonies, and it is hoped *o bnng 1,000,000 acres ultimately mfc the enterprise. DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL LIFE The essential, point in this matter of home colonisation is that the conditions established should be favourable to the development of an agree- ' able social life. It is useless to dump j ex-service men upon isolated patches kof the countryside without making 1 markets or neighbours within reach. The Board of Agriculture has forj tunately recognised the necessity of 1 founding its system upon a communal and co-operative basis. It is therefore proposed that, the settlers should be grouped in a colony where they can work either as individual small holders or as members of a community which would share the profits derived from working the colony as one large, farm. Under the small-holding sys+em th'? colony begins as one large farm under the management of a director. Applicants will be employed as workers upon it at the rate of Wages current in the district for a period of one year's training. After that time satisfactory students will be allotted at a reasonable rent such area of land as

he is able to cultivate successfully on his own account. At Holbea"h, where an experimental colony hal 3 been started, a man can .ffet a good living- off a ten-acre allotment by means of intensive frmt and vegetable culture. But the quality c^f the soil is, of course, the chief factor in determining the size of allotments..

Even when all the small holdings have been taken ur> a certain portion of the estate will be retained as a central farm under the management of a director. Thereupon intendi-g settlers can acquire, the necessary training and will, when working on their own account, be able to hire any part of the large equipment of horses, implements, and machinery which they reauire. A club h^use, with concept and readiner rooms, w'll also be available and become, it is hoped, a centre for the social life of t>he district.

Under the profit-sha"iner nlan the colony is worked as one larw> farm, and the settlers are employed by t>e director, receiving in addition to their wages a share in the profits

realised by the farming operations. Such profits they are entitled to spend as tjiey think fit, or to invest iri land adjoining their cottages to be cultivated for their own use. In both instances the whole business of the transport and marketing of produce will, devolve upon the director, who will moreover advise and assist allotment holders in every way. Thus it is practically "farming without tears" which the Board of Agriculture, offers to the war-spent herowho»e ambition is boumtea by a "bic oi £>iignLy." Agriculture is aftei all an art wmch in normal circumstances is itamt in the bitter school 01 experience. 'I he untrained amateur is uoomect to iailure, be his holering small or great-, fur Nature is no respecter oi persons even though i,hey bear upon their breaots tiie honours oi the cucafc war. We tio not ■ \*&iit, iiowaver, to see our returned solders aoiinuun their allotments in disgust-i either through their igno.ancc of agriculture orHbecause the dullness; of rural existence drives them back to tjie town. And the only way to avoid these difficulties and disenchantment:* is through the tor.mat.ion of colonies favourably situated from the point of view o± markets and so organised that the amenities ( of social ljfe are within reach ot-the settlers.