THE PROBLEM STATED. 11 



personal explanation — Australian born, I had, 

 though allotted to a city calling, the good oppor- 

 tunities which are available in a pioneer country 

 to indulge a loving curiosity for the work of the 

 land. As a boy in Tasmania, my school vaca- 

 tions were almost always spent on farms — the 

 fertile little farms of the Derwent River and the 

 Huon River valleys, where hops and apples are 

 the staple crops of a fine system of mixed farm- 

 ing, which is carried on under climate conditions 

 very similar to those of Southern England. 

 When, later, in New South Wales I became 

 addicted to journalism — " addicted " is the right 

 word : it is an impoverishing, enslaving, but 

 enchanting occupation, truly comparable with 

 a drug habit — a close study of agricultural 

 conditions and of systems of land tenure was 

 the concession I made to my conscience to keep 

 faith with an ultimate intention of "* going on 

 the land " one day and earning an unquestion- 

 ably honest livelihood. Observation of village 

 settlements as a means of relief for city unem- 

 ployables ; of colleges of agricultural education ; 

 and of practical work in grain farming, dairy 

 farming, fruit culture, the pastoral industry ; an 



