Eilucalioii 99 



up our minds to have two at least, one in Ceylon and one 

 in Trinidad or elsewhere in the West Indies. 



" If this Government," our Editor pointed out in the 

 paper that he read at the International Congress just 

 referred to, and therefore before the war when the present 

 demand for organizing and making use of the nation's 

 man-power has rendered a conscription of the Empire's 

 man-power and wealth possible along lines that would 

 have been incredulous in 1913, "or, shall I say, any 

 Government that rules this country and its dependencies, 

 were as keen on wringing out the labour and P2mpire- 

 building capacity that is latent within us all (although 

 some are very loth to make use of it), as they are of 

 squeezing out our money for taxes. I reckon that the 

 development of the resources of the Tropics and Sub- 

 Tropics would go ahead at a much more rapid rate than 

 it is doing at present. Why not adopt the idea of con- 

 scription to compel everyone to do his (or her) share of 

 the work of the country, so as to develop the resources 

 of the Empire by the united effort of all as well as for the 

 benefit of all, either driving away the slackers or reforming 

 their ways on a tramp farm or labour-colony ? 



" I say this because I think the bulk of those who at 

 present work at half or quarter pressure only would be 

 much more healthy, as they would be more useful, if they 

 worked at full pressure, and their help is certainly needed. 

 Standing next to me at a meeting held at the Mansion 

 House in support of the British Dominions Exhibition 

 which was to have been held in 1917, was Mr. Will 

 Crooks, the well-known Labour M.P., who, in the course 

 of his speech, claimed, and rightly claimed, that the lower 

 classes, because they are used to roughing it, were often 

 the very ones who got on best when they went forth into 

 the world to make their way. This being so, surely it 

 must follow that, once educated men with capital who 

 have had the advantage of being trained at an agricul- 

 tural college in the Tropics are induced through this 

 training to go thence to increase our supplies of food- 

 stuffs and raw materials, these others will follow, especially 

 if slackers are discouraged, if not coerced, at home, and 

 every workman compelled to do at least an equal mini- 

 mum share of his country's work in the same way as 

 these same men are so very keen just now to compel 

 their employers to pay them all — good, bad, or indifferent 

 — an equal minimum wage. One day, perhaps, our 

 Government will find that it is their duty to round us 



