utilize Semi-arid Zones 149 



therefore, may be interested in what I said, and when their 

 ■day of trouble comes they can do for their men and those 

 dependent on them what I now urge my government to do 

 with ours, both in England and her dominions overseas, 

 viz. : — 



Back to the Land in India and Elsewhere — 

 ex-sof.diers as agriculturists. 



It is significant of the times that in the House of Lords, 

 on July 22, Lord Sydenham asked whether the Govern- 

 ment of India were preparing a scheme for giving grants 

 of land after the War to officers and men of the Indian 

 Army who had distinguished themselves in the field, and 

 whether government posts would be made available for 

 those who were not agriculturists. 



Lord Islington, after paying a well-deserved tribute to 

 the valour of the Indian troops, replied that the Govern- 

 ment of India had already approached the local authorities 

 with a view to ascertaining what land was available, but 

 there were many intricate and difficult questions to be 

 considered before any decision could be arrived at. 



Whether these intricate and difficult questions may 

 cause so excellent a scheme to be abandoned I cannot 

 say, but sincerely hope that such will not be the case. 

 Meanwhile the whole matter touched upon by Lord 

 Sydenham, namely, the placing of ex-warriors on the land, 

 must not, in any case, be lost sight of, whether the men 

 be Indian or British-born subjects, both for the sake of the 

 men as well as of those who are dependent on them for a 

 living. In Russia the ex-Tsar and Tsarina, we were told, 

 had esta])lished agricultural settlements where the orphans 

 and other victims of the War could be trained to earn a 

 good living under healthy and happy conditions. This 

 excellent example can well be followed by this Empire. 



With the serious reduction in the output of foodstufl's 

 with which we are faced in all parts of the world, and the 

 need that there will be to feed and find employment for 

 thousands of men with the wives and children, what better 

 work could be found for a large number of them than that 

 of an agriculturist, first to feed themselves, and then as 

 their output increases to help feed others ; the sale of their 

 produce and the purchase of their supplies for the farm 

 and home to be organized on a co-operative basis. 

 Municipal and local bodies can help by securing land here 

 or in the Colonies (as Mr. Reginald Enock has long 



