70 NO EXPERIENCE 



the necessary cash. Sufficient capital became 

 the only qualification necessary to take a small 

 holding, and an applicant was accepted on 

 these terms quite regardless of his ability, 

 experience, or fitness for the work. 



The small-holders had only been in occupa- 

 tion a short time when it was found that the 

 majority had entirely spent their available cash 

 on stocking their holdings in an unproductive 

 and extravagant outlay on all kinds of imple- 

 ments, horses, carts, sheds, etc. With no 

 acquaintance of the work they had undertaken, 

 and with very little knowledge of how opera- 

 tions should be started, they purchased what- 

 ever in their limited experience it was felt 

 might possibly be required. The result was 

 inevitable. Everyone was soon penniless, the 

 fruit-trees were young, and would bear no crop 

 for another six summers, the land needed years 

 of careful nursing before it could hope to be 

 in a fit state for intensive cultivation. Their 

 capital had been spent, and there seemed no 

 prospects of any return. 



Mr. Fels proceeded to open his purse and 

 pour money into the place in a vain struggle 

 for success. The small - holders were his 



