Heview of Revitwi, J/9/1/6. How General Booth Makes Emigrants. 



237 



if he prove willing and amenable to discipline, 

 he has is. This is increased, until he may earn as 

 much as 5s. per week, or even more. One-third of 

 the money earned is held by the Officer-in-chajge, 

 to be used as a contingent fund. This can be drawn 

 upon by the colonist if he wishes to buy clothes or 

 any other necessaries. It is also a safeguard against 

 im'position, as witness the following :— One night 

 three rain-soaked and wretched tramps shuffled 

 weaiily to the door of the Home Office and asked 

 for shelter and food, adding, incidentally, that they 

 also wanted work on the colony. They were accom- 

 modated, and the following morning they showed 

 their dilapidated boots to a too sympathetic officer, 

 and pathetically asked, " 'Ow can we work in these 

 'ere things, mister? S'elp me, my feet's froee 

 a'ready !" Boots were supplied to the footsore 

 _>nes, who during the following night decamped, to 

 the sorrow and expense of a too-confiding and trust- 

 ful Salvationist. They don't take men " off the 

 roads" now. It will be seen that the colonist is 

 ]iaid in proportion to his ability and industry. The 

 labourer must prove hmself " worthy of his hire." 

 The same rule applies to his food — the "bee" is 

 fjetter fed than the "drone." At the close of the 

 day's work the men go to the Home Office, where 

 they are each given three tickets, entitling the holder 

 to supper, bed, and breakfast the following morn- 

 ing. The tickets are coloured red and blue. A red 

 ticket is worth more than a blue one, and its luck)' 

 possessor is entitled to a "cut off the joint," while 

 he of the blue has to be content with stew. The 

 food, though rough and badly cooked, is sufficient 

 for a man to work upon, and, indeed, the " colo- 

 nise," fresh from a state of semi-starvation in Lon- 

 don, soon liegins to feel his strength and self-re- 

 spect returning, thanks to the Hadleigh food, plus 

 the Hadleigh air, added to the regular life and the 

 knowledge that so long as he is willing to work he 

 will be fed, housed and clothed. " What provision is 

 made for the wives and families of married men 

 while the bread-winner is at Hadleigh?" Well, the 

 Army allows the wife of any " colonist " so much per 

 week for herself and child or children so long as 

 the "colonist" behaves himself and works. Fifteen 

 shillings per week is, I believe, the average allow- 

 ince, :ind the husband is allowed one day's " leave " 

 in every month to go home for a day or two to visit 

 his wife and family — a kindly and humane arrange- 

 ment much appreciated by the married men. 



There is, of course, a small proportion of men 

 :it Hadleigh, who, on account of physicai or other 

 reasons, are kept there as long as they like to main- 

 tain themselves. 



They, at any rate, have a home there, which :s 

 lietter th.in the Thames Embankment, and while 

 there are quiet, law-abiding, and more or less in- 

 dustrious citizens, which also is preferable to swell- 

 ing the already congested ranks of the London un- 

 employed, whose name is Legion ! 



Such then are the objects, aims and methods of 

 the Hadleigh Farm Colony. 



THE DAY'S WORK AT HADLEIGH. 



I remember once being awakened from my slum 

 bers by a Gippsland "cockie," with a lantern in his 

 hand, who told me it was " daylight " ! We didn't 

 start the day's work quite so early at Hadleigh. 

 Breakfast at 6.30 a.m., work at 7 o'clock. 



It was a bitterly cold, dark morning as I splashed 

 my way to the Home Office to " report " to the Ad- 

 jutant, and to be allotted my day's work. This, I 

 found, was to dig in the " Governor's " garden, and 

 thither I made my way in mud up to my legging 

 tops, accompanied by two of my fellow-colonists, 

 one of whom was shortly afterwards discharged for 

 chronic laziness. The "lazy one" grumbled and 

 growled at everything and everybody, then asked 

 me if 1 had any "'bacca"! I handed him my 

 pouch, out of which he helped himself liberally, 

 then inquired, " Which helevator did you come out 

 of, mate?" I replied that I had not had the 

 honour of being in any one. After this he regarded 

 me, I thought, with suspicion. 



A biting east wind is a sufficiently good incentive 

 to a willing man to work, and we set about our 

 tasks readily enough. Even the " loafer " wielded 

 his hoe with vigour while the Adjutant was present. 

 After that, I regret to say, he relaxed his efforts 

 considerably. " Burning off rubbish," he told me, 

 " was his favourite ' job,' as a bloke can warm his- 



self at the fires this cold weather — see?" I 



did see some days afterwards. We were collecting 

 and burning rubbish in the "Governor's" garden. 

 The " loafer " had essayed to light a fire, but had 

 given it up as a bad job. After getting the fire 

 alight I had gone aw^ay to collect and carry up more 

 wood, cuttings, etc., and on my return, heavily 

 laden with more fuel for the flames, my " mate " 

 (save the mark !) was standing in front of the blaze, 

 legs apart, pipe in mouth, his hands under his rag- 

 ged coat-tails, with a look of supreme content on 

 his unshaven face, for all the w-orld like a " bag- 

 man " warming himself before the parlour fire of an 

 English country inn. "This is what I call orl- 

 right !" he exclaimed, as I threw my load on the 

 fire. I won't record my answer — it was more forcible 

 than polite. But it caused me no surprise when, 

 shortly afterwards, this prince of loafers was ex- 

 pelled as teing incorrigible. And one " loafer " out 

 of one hundred and forty men isn't a bad average, 

 anyhow ! While we were digging in the garden, the 

 other " colonists " had been allotted different tasks — 

 some on the farm carting manure, cutting up 

 " mangels " for the cattle, carting in fodder and straw 

 from the hay and straw stacks, "mucking out" 

 stables and cow sheds, feeding the pigs and the 

 fowls, and so forth. The " nursery " hands were at 

 work in the glass-houses, which supply large quan- 

 tities of cut flowers and herbs to the Southend 

 greengrocers. 



