TEMPORARY OUTLET FOR LABOUR 81 



It may be estimated that the gross expenditure on the 

 reclaimed land (regarding the afforested portions as a 

 separate enterprise) would be £8 to £10 an acre before 

 the farms could be let, and for the first year or two the 

 rents would have to be kept low, not rising to the normal 

 for at least five years. But supposing that half the land 

 has to be put in forest, it would ultimately carry a 

 family per 300 acres, where it now only carries a family 

 per 1,500 acres. 



One aspect of reclamation work that has not hitherto 

 been considered is that it would afford a considerable 

 volume of employment for large gangs of unskilled 

 labour during the preliminary period of actual reclama- 

 tion. Most of the work that requires to be done — 

 embankment, drainage, levelling, clearing, etc., road- 

 making and even building — could be done under direc- 

 tion by able-bodied men with no previous experience of 

 the land. For example, regiments awaiting discharge 

 could well undertake such work on a prepared scheme 

 with a small amount of technical direction, the huts 

 that have been erected in so many camps about the 

 country being moved to supply the necessary housing. 

 As the work progressed and became more definitely 

 agricultural, the men with a desire to remain in the 

 country and some aptitude for farming, could be 

 selected to become the occupiers of the holdings that 

 had been prepared for farming, and since the occupiers 

 would form definite colonies it would be easy to provide 

 some technical guidance in the earlier years. 



In conclusion, it should be said that the full value of 

 reclamation schemes is only apparent after the lapse 

 of time, for the true capacity of the land is only attained 

 after years of cultivation, and the best uses to which it 



