RECLAMATION OF LAND 131 



Paragraphs 170 to 174 of the Majority Report are as 



follows : 



" 170. In the foregoing part of this Report we have dis- 

 cussed the future of British agriculture on what appears to 

 us the most probable hypothesis, i.e. that there will be a 

 shortage in the supply of agricultural labour after the war. 

 But it is quite possible, and even consistent with this theory, 

 that the demobilisation of the forces at the close of the w»ir 

 will result in a serious condition of unemployment in the 

 labour market generally. It will be very difficult for the 

 Government to retain for any length of time after the con- 

 clusion of peace the services either of the sailors and soldiers 

 enlisted for the period of the war, or of the persons now 

 engaged in munition factories. With a view to the probable 

 discharge within a few months of large numbers of these 

 workers, it will be necessary for the State and the local 

 authorities to prepare beforehand schemes of remunerative 

 works of improvement, both in town and country, on which 

 the surplus labour may be employed without delay. We 

 consider it of great importance that there should be included, 

 among these, schemes of reclamation and afforestation, which 

 will directly benefit the agricultural districts. Mr. A. D. 

 Hall has placed before us an interesting memorandum on the 

 subject of the reclamation of waste lands, which we append 

 to this Report. The Royal Commission on Coast Erosion 

 received a considerable volume of evidence indicating the 

 existence of large areas of tidal lands in England and Wales 

 which were suitable for reclamation for agricultural purposes, 

 but the Commission came to the conclusion that, in most 

 instances, reclamation would not be profitable from a financial 

 point of view.^ It appears possible, however, to reclaim 

 considerable areas of slob land on the East Coast and of bog 

 land in Wales at a cost which would be reasonable in pro- 

 portion to the ultimate value of the land to be gained for 

 cultivation. If the experiments now being carried on by 

 the Development Commission on heath land in Norfolk prove 

 successful, some of these areas might also be taken in hand 

 with a view to their improvement, and to the employment 

 of ex-Service men on the land. 



"171. In view of the dangers revealed by the war which 

 result from the dependence of this coimtry upon timber im- 



1 Third (and Final) Keport of the Royal Commission on Coatt 

 Erosion, 1911 [Cd. 5708], p. 144. 



