22 THE CHANGES NEEDED 



apology for an Aliens Act is useless for any pur- 

 pose whatever. 



3. A Small Holdings Act, by which the revival 

 of agriculture will also be assisted. 



When the advantage to themselves of universal 

 military service has been explained to the people, 

 it is to be presumed they will decide in its favour. 

 Great Britain must still, in that case, maintain a 

 long-service imperial force, though not on the 

 scale of the present regular army. Men com- 

 pleting service in such a force would naturally 

 receive pensions, but they would not be able to 

 live entirely on such pensions, and therefore 

 would have to work. Such men might find, as 

 indeed they do at present, some difficulty in 

 reverting to work at any trade, however un- 

 skilled the men of that trade had need to be. 

 It is a crying evil, at the present time, that such 

 numbers of our discharged soldiers and, to a 

 less extent, sailors, find it almost impossible to 

 get work. Universal service, properly organised, 

 would bring that evil within bounds, but, in the 

 a:bsence of a further Act, the evil would still 

 exist. That Act is an Act for the provision of 

 small holdings, on which long-service men, 

 having suitable qualifications, might be settled. 



The idea of small holdings is no new one. 

 There is, indeed, now a private organisation 

 pushing this scheme ; and there have been laws 

 authorising the placing of men on small hold- 

 ings, and men have been so placed, but some- 

 times with a conspicuous want of success. Small 

 holdings must end in failure where certain 



