ESTIMATE OF SHORTAGE 91 



will have been broken, and the tendency of men to 

 return to their old occupations will have been to a 

 great extent neutralised ; and the majority will have 

 no definite post waiting for them. No doubt many 

 at first may resume an indoor occupation. But we 

 are convinced that the desire for the open air will 

 be firmly rooted in the minds of vast numbers. 

 And they will emigrate either on discharge, or after 

 a short trial of indoor life, unless the conditions of 

 agricultural life which the Nation has to offer them 

 here at home are made good enough to satisfy them. 



25. The only basis of an estimate is a percentage, 

 at which we are in little better position to guess than 

 anyone else. But we cannot think that the per- 

 centage of men who will want an agricultural life 

 will be less than 5 per cent, of the total discharged 

 from the Forces ; and it may conceivably be as many 

 as 10 per cent. What proportion will emigrate and 

 what stay at home will depend on what is done by 

 the Government to make the offer of home life attrac- 

 tive before the moment comes for the man to choose, 

 i.e. before he is discharged. 



D. — ^The Conditions of the Agricultural 

 Labourer's Life and the Necessary Changes 



26. On the conditions of life which have in the past 

 influenced the men and women to leave the land 

 there is a general consensus of opinion among the 

 authorities. Thus, Sir Henry Rew has accounted for 

 the reduced supply of agricultural labour by (1) the 

 desire of the men to obtain the higher money wage 



