CHAPTER XII. 



THE URBAN EXODUS. 



The recent Census Return of 1911 shows an 

 increase of 10*2 per cent in rural districts — 

 recording a pushing out of the tentacles of 

 suburbia farther and farther afield. We have 

 been painfully aware for some years back of 

 a rural exodus ; but there is also, we joyfully 

 note, an urban exodus. 



Two forces have been at work elbowing 

 the townsman out into the country — one, the 

 economic pressure of town sites driving the 

 manufacturer out into the country, and the 

 other, the natural desire of the colonising 

 Englishman for the open road — or even for 

 the road planted with the dusty laurel or the 

 attenuated lime. If the townsman cannot 

 work in the country by day, he will at any rate 

 breathe its pure air at night. 



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