A GREAT OPPORTUNITY 73 



The demobilisation of the Navy and Army at the close 

 of the war will afford a unique opportunity of developing/ 

 agriculture in this country. It is of the utmost import- 

 ance to the welfare of the nation that this opportunity 

 should he seized and turned to the greatest possible advan- 

 tage. The men who have joined the Forces include 

 representatives of all the best elements of our popula- 

 tion ; many of them possess a high degree of enterprise 

 and intelligence, and if any substantial number can be 

 attracted to seek a career on the land at home it will 

 give a stimulus to the agriculture of the country. 



" A large number of these men were employed in 

 agriculture prior to the war. Many of them will leave 

 the Forces with a wider outlook and a heightened 

 ambition. It is urgent that as many as possible of 

 these men should be induced to resume agricultural 

 life at home. In addition, there may be many others, 

 formerly engaged in urban industry, who will be 

 reluctant to return to the life of the factory, the shop, 

 or the office, and who will seek opportunities for an 

 open-air occupation. If no such opportunities are 

 open to them in this country they will be attracted to 

 the overseas Dominions, or may even be lost to the 

 Empire altogether. We welcome the facilities offered 

 by the Governments of the Dominions to emigrants 

 from this country, but we cannot look with equanimity 

 on the prospect of losing large numbers of the best 

 and most vigorous of our population. The State will 

 miss a great opportunity of benefiting agriculture in this 

 country and will fail in its duty towards its sailors and 

 soldiers if it cannot offer any alternative to emigration 

 to those who would prefer to remain on the land at home.'''' 



4. The paragraphs we have quoted were signed 

 without reservation by all the signatories of the present 

 Majority Report, except Sir Luke White, who joined 

 6* 



