236 



The Review of Heviews. 



September 1, 2906, 



in order to go through some necessarj- preliminaries 

 at the hands of the Adjutant. He opened an enor- 

 mous volume, containing the histories of many men 

 v.ho to-day are doing well in Canada or elsewhere, 

 and began my cfoss-examination : — "Married or 

 single?' "Where did you sleep last night?" " Ever 

 been in gaol?" " Not yet," I said. Noting the rather 

 astonished expression on my face, he hastened to 

 add, " Sorry, but we have to put these questions. 

 Our rules, you know." I was then asked whether I 

 would observe the three main rules laid down for 

 the law and order of the colony. These were: — To 

 refrain from any intoxicating drink and the use of 

 obscene language while on the colony, to obey any 

 orders given me by the officers, and to attend at 

 least once every Sunday some place of worship. 

 It will be noted that the Army officers do not iiisist 

 upon colonists attending the Sunday services at 

 their own citadel. In this the colonists are allowed 

 their choice. There is, however, a Saturday night 

 social in the citadel, at which everyone has to be 

 present. I walked out of the office feeling that my 

 probation as a Hadleigh colonist had begun in 

 earnest. 



The colony itself consists of 3000 acres of land, 

 a good deal of which is under cultivation. Leaving 

 the Home Office, one passes along a street, on either 

 side of which are little " tin " cottages — familiar 

 enough to Australian eyes. These, I learned, were 

 for the use of married couples who had separated, 

 from various reasons, but had become reconciled 

 through the medium of the Salvation Army agencies. 

 During my stay at Hadleigh one such reconciliation 

 actually took place. The husband, who formerly 

 held a good position in an insinance office, lost 

 his post through drink, sank lower and lower, until 

 at last his wife could bear with him no more. He 

 was taken in hand by the Army, who gave him a 

 thorough testing for tw-elve months, then, finding him 

 reliable, employed him in the office for a while, after 

 which the reconciliation happily took place. Good 

 luck to the plucky woman who forsook all to help 

 her husband work out his own salvation in that little 

 " tin " cottage at Hadleigh. Past the cottages loomed 

 a fine large building known as the cow shed. 

 There, warmly housed and well fed, were the dry 

 stock ; the milch cows were down at the dairj' faxm, 

 on another part of the colony. Calves lay amongst 

 the clean straw, or frisked about in roomv pens. 

 On one side of the building were stalls for the f.irm 

 horses — two of them being occupied by pedigree 

 mares. Fowls cackled and scratched about noisily; 

 the cattle men moved about their work briskly — 

 altogether a typical English farmyard — and all 

 under the " stage management of ' W. Booth, car- 

 man and general contractor,' " as the name-plates 

 on the farm waggons had it. 



Opposite the cow-shed was the little school where 

 the rather numerous progeny of the Army officers, 

 paid farm hands and others were being taught by 



a schoomiaster in a red jersey, assisted by two cr 

 three schoolmistresses in " poke bonnets." Nume- 

 rous stacks, solid and compact, of hay and straw were 

 in the farmyard, and beyond them Park House, for- 

 merly an old manor house, but now used for the ac- 

 commodation of "paying colonists" — viz., men who 

 were payuig so much per week for their board. A 

 former West End surgeon was an inmate at the time 

 of which I write — a gentleman of refinement and 

 education, who had lost a good practice through 

 drink, and had ultimately drifted to Hadleigh. 

 There he keeps sober, and works in the market gar- 

 den, pruning trees in lieu of limbs. True, he will 

 never be fit for Canada, but at any rate Hadleigh 

 is a sanctuary for him, in which he is safe from 

 the vice that has ruined his prospects. 



Within a stone's-throw of the old castle, or 

 lather the ruins of it — it dates from about 1066, I 

 believe — are the dormitories, where sleep the "ordi- 

 nary colonists.'" They also are in grades, the good 

 conduct man having a better bed than he whose 

 conduct is not so satisfactor)-. 



Personally, I have often slept in far less desir- 

 able places than the dormitories at Hadleigh. They 

 are " Hotel Cecil " as compared with the average 

 " travellers' hut " in the back-blocks. The iron bed 

 steads are ranged around the sides of the room and 

 down the centre. A huge stove throws out a rather 

 superfluous amount of heat from the centre of the 

 room; Scriptural texts adorn the walls; the blan- 

 kets are sufficient in number and good enough in 

 quality to keep one warm ; while in the higher- 

 grade dormitories one may even attain to the luxury 

 of sheets ! 



There is a hospital, happily but rarely needed; a 

 laundry, reading-room and library, which is well 

 patronised if one may judge by the rather grimy 

 state of the books; brick fields, market gardens, 

 poultry farm, dairy farm, nurseries, piggeries, wag- 

 gon sheds — in short, a complete township — and a 

 well-ordered one at that. 



The behaviour of the men was excellent; indeed, 

 during my two months' sojourn at Hadleigh cmly 

 one man was turned ofiF the place, and that was on 

 account of hi.*; incurable laziness. I maintain that if 

 the officers of the " colony " cannot get a man to 

 work no one else can. The gates of the colony are 

 open until 10 p.m., the village is within a stone's- 

 throw, and there are three pubUc-honses open. Yet, 

 in spite of this. I saw no cases of drunkenness, the 

 moral suasion employed being, seemingly, sufficient 

 to keep the colonists sober. If a man offend he is 

 gi^"en a chance, but woe betide him who offendeth 

 too often ! For him the punishment is dismissal, and 

 to be " on the road " in England, especially in the 

 winter time, is no " cake walk " for even the most 

 hardened tramp. 



" Do the colonists get any wages?" Yes, they do. 

 When a man first goes to Hadleigh he receives what 

 is known as a " grant " of 6d. per week. In time. 



