Salvation Army Colonies.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12796, 30 September 1905, Page 3 (Supplement)

Salvation Army Colonies.

MB RIDER HAGGARD'S OFFICIAL REPORT. • One of the most interesting of "sociopolitical publications, because dealing officially with a topic now attracting worldwide colonial attention, is a collection of the official documents and reports to the British Government on the Salvation Army colonies in the United States and in Englanr by Mr Rider Maggard, with the scheme for national land settlement that accompanied the reports. Early in the preland by Rider Haggard, witli the though best know to the world as the author of " She " and "Jess," has an English reputation as an authority upon agrarian politics, was nominated by His Majesty's Government as a Commissioner to inspect and report on the Salvation Army -agricultural and industrial establishments in the United States of America and to make practical suggestions, if the Salvation Army experiments commended themselves to him, for the projected transfer of urban populations of the United Kingdom to different parts of the British Empire. It should be .started that this was done on the initiative of the Rhodes trustees, who paid expenses. The commission was immediately proceeded with, and in June the report was presented, with the result that a very favourable impression was created in favour of this form of colonisation, and a great deal of public interest aroused.. Briefly, this instructive book—published in paper at eighteenpence and in cloth at two shillings—will be placed on the shelves of everybody who wishes to possess even a rudimentary knowledge of this remarkable and beneficent movement.

It is impossible to condense in an effectual manner these brief official letters and carefully-weighed reports, and we cannot do better than quote from Mr Rider Haggard's own explanatory introduction. But, before doing so, it is particularly noticeable to New Zealanders that- the freehold is repeatedly asserted to be the only form of "hold" that satisfies the settler, and is the only one everywhere adopted by the Salvation Army. The Secretary of Agriculture for the United States " declared himself unhesitatingly to be in favour of freehold, with which, in his opinion, no leasehold, however long and _ attractive, could possibly compete in the eyes of intending settlers." Says Mr Rider Haggard himself; ".I have carefully considered the nature of the tenure which could be given the land settlers with most advantage to themselves and the greatest security to the Authorities guaranteeing the Settlement I.oan. There is no doubt- that-in some ways the system of perpetual leasehold at a fixed rent is attractive, especially if it could be coupled with a right-to huy. . . . Perpetual leasehold may be virtually as good as a freehold and cheaper to acquire, but sentiment must be taken into account, and considered from this point- of view it does not look the same. The man who starts out to work a piece of land would like to know that a time must come when he will be able to call it his very own. It is because this is impossible that thousands of those who are employed in English agriculture are now deserting the country for the towns. I think, therefore, that the title given to all settlers, at any rate in the British colonies, after they have discharged the price of their liabilities and paid the price of the land they occupy, should be freehold and no otlier."

Says Mr Haggard : " I was oil the who'e extremely -well satisfied with the Califoraian and Colorado settlements which are named Fort Romie and Fort Amity. Fort Herrick, in Ohio, which I visited also, may be left out of ' the . account, inasmuch as it is in the main devoted to the redemption of inebriates and to the carrying out of certain agricultural experiments. At both Fort Romie and Fort Amity, as may be seen by my remarks on these places, I found the settlers healthy, happy, hopeful, and, almost without exception,' doing weV. Beginning in nearly every case with nothing. moreover, in the course of about four years at Fort Romie these settlers are now worth an average of over £4OO per head above all their debts and liabilities to the' Salvation Army and others, and at Fort Amity an average of over £2OO, which is, needless to say, a great deal more than they could possibly have accumulated during the same period as day-labourers on the land or in the cities." "If settlements are carried out on the lines which I suggest, and especially if they are located upon good land which has cost the controlling authority nothing, there should be, as is indicated by the tables that I have furnished, no loss but a considerable gain. As for the scheme itself it is so simple' that I- can only wcnder no one has propounded it before. Also "X believe that whenever it is put to work, as soon or late must certainly happen, it will be found very" far-reaching in its effects. Here it is in. a sentence: To combine a judicious use of the Public Credit with that of what I have called the "waste forces of Benevolence,' and by, m-eans of these two levers to lift some of'tie mass of human 1 misery which demonstrates itself in tha great cities of civilisation to a sew level of plenty and contentment. "The reader may ask how this combination of credit and charity is to be arranged. I answer this : (1) Through the guarantee by the State of.the interest on loans, for the repayment of which loans and interest the land to be' settled should prove a sufficient security, since that land will be sold —not. given—to the settlers and paid for by them in instalments. (2) By making use of any willing, approved and well-es-tablished charitable body, organisation, or society to administer the loans and settleI ments under proper Government authority | and control. In this fashion the cost of local official direction, which would, I believe, prove almost fatal to the scheme as a business proposition, may be obviated, and that bond of human sympathy and kindness inspired by love and not by lucre imported into its working which, in my view, is, in fact, necessary to its complete success. The proposal is to select suitable poor persons -from the cities, to- convey them to distant lands, establish them there, instruct them, live with them for thirty years in' the various settlements, all of which, under my plan, will be dona by charitable bodies using highly-trained and

specialised men, at the price of their out-of-pocket- expenses only. What would such men cost in the market, if, in any number, they are obtainable at all? "No endowment or subsidising of the Salvation Army is therein proposed, nor is it proposed that they should be exclusively employed in this business. The actual word's of my suggestion are that the Salvation Army, or any other well-established and approved social, charitable or religious organisation, should be deputed to carry out the work of selecting, distributing, and organising the settlers on land-colonies anywhere wherein the boundaries of the British Empire, who should remain in charge of such organisation until all liabilities were paid." "At present, however, the Salvation Army are in the position of sole tenderers. At least I am not aware of the existence of any other body of the sort that is prepared, to whatever extent may be desired, to transport persons from the cities to distant colouies and there to take charge of them and instruct them over a long period of years, receiving in return only actual out-of-pocket expenses and the loan of the funds necessary to the enterprise, or rather the authority, subject to proper audit, to administer that loan upon particular settlements. When such bodies arise and appear their applications would doubtless receive fair and proper consideration. "I have been told that my plan is futile because 'it does not go to the root of the question,'- that is because it does not pro- ' vide for the scum aud the dregs of our city society. I admit that this is so, for my s scheme is on business, not *on pauperising lines; indeed, _.I go further, and say that no system formulated by the brain of"man can provide for these people except throusli pure charity, or in the workhouse and the gaol." ' |