Land Problems and National Welfare 



have been drawing away numbers of our best 

 men — small farmers and agricultural labourers, 

 just the type of men best suited to people our 

 lands beyond the seas, but the type of men also 

 who are most wanted at home. 



The migrations of population must be guided 

 into those districts where they will do most to 

 develop the empire. 



For years to come England should be the 

 reservoir of population from which our Colonies 

 must draw. It is therefore essential that the 

 reservoir be kept full. We must first colonise 

 the depopulated or sparsely populated rural 

 districts of England by creating a sturdy race of 

 small farmers and independent labourers con- 

 nected with the land, and the overflow of such 

 a population can with advantage be drafted to 

 the different colonies. 



The Land, the People, and above all the 

 effective condition and standard of the people 

 are our greatest Imperial assets. Tariff Re- 

 formers with the true Imperial ideal before them 

 wish to see the bonds of Empire strengthened, 

 not only by a deepening of affection between 

 the Mother Country and every one of her 

 colonies, but, as practical men, they would 

 welcome a great Imperial Zollverein which 

 would bind together the commercial interests of 

 the Empire into one solid whole. 



It is no use to shut one's eyes to the fact that 

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