64 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



The point is that, in view of the uncertainty of the 

 weather, there must be elasticity ; and the objective 

 should be so to increase the number of men in the country 

 on holdings of their own, that there will be a surplus of 

 men who while they work part, or even most of their 

 time, on their own holdings, would give a certain number 

 of days to the surrounding farmers. These men would 

 be the very finest type of workers and such a reserve of 

 additional labour would be invaluable. While one wishes 

 to see the best possible conditions for agricultural 

 labourers, and increased opportunity for advancement, 

 it is only fair to the industry to state that investigations 

 show that, even now, the proportion of labourers who 

 rise to an independent position (i.e. become farmers), 

 is high as compared with other industries. 



The working of the National Insurance Act is another 

 matter closely affecting the rural workers. The old 

 Friendly Societies were splendid institutions ; often they 

 were worked very well, and the village Friendly Society 

 became the meeting-place of the serious-minded men 

 in the village, and much good work was done voluntarily 

 by men with a high sense of duty. These small 

 Friendly Societies, wherever financially sound, could 

 and should have been preserved. 



Unfortunately the way in which the Act was worked 

 has led to the extinction of most of these societies, and 

 to the rural workers being insured in the great Urban 

 Insurance Societies. The result is that the healthy 

 countryman is paying for the ill -health of the towns- 

 man. This is not fair, and it could have been avoided ; 

 it has been avoided in two or three counties. In York- 

 shire, Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire, and more largely 

 in Scotland, the small Friendly Societies were kept 

 from dissolving and formed into County Associations 



