238 



The Review of Reviews. 



SepUmieT 1, 1906. 



The brickyard hands were " getting out '' and 

 wheeling clay, the ploughmen were afield, and away 

 in the distance, on the river flats, the " sea wallers " 

 were busy repairing the wall of mud and stones that 

 stood between the river and the marsh lands of the 

 " colony.'' For keeping this wall in repair the Army 

 is paid a considerable sum every year by the Lon- 

 don and Southend Railway Co., whose line runs 

 through the flat, low-lying country at the river boun- 

 dary of the colony. The " farm department " was 

 under the management of a " converted " farmer, 

 hailing from the Tweed — or somewhere near it — 

 and it was a novelty to see a plough being guided 

 by a man in a red jersey and peaked cap. But he 

 could " cut a furrow " with any of them, and the way 

 he handled horses was good to look upon. There 

 were two or three "overseers" — all paid hands, and 

 Salvationists. One, I remember, beat the drum in 

 the Army band; and very capable and decent men 

 they were. The most capable and experienced of the 

 colonists are picked as foremen, or gangers, and 

 they were in charge of and responsible for work 

 done by the colonists in whatever department they 

 were assigned to. Our foreman remarked to me at 

 the close of my first day's work at Hadleigh, " Well, 

 young feller, if we 'aven't earned aar bit o' corn, 

 blowed if I know who 'as !" .\n hour is allowed 

 for dinner, to which the men, with appetites sharp- 

 ened by keen air and hard work, do ample justice; 

 and then to work again until 5 o'clock, by which 

 time it is pretty well dark. The cattle are fed and 

 bedded down for the night ; tools are put away ; the 

 men, with mud-caked boots, and in some cases ach- 

 ing backs, troop to their various dormitories, the 

 officers go home — to come out later on to take part 

 in spiritual work. The school is " out " ; the brick 

 yards are empty, save for the watchmen; the "nur- 

 series " are silent and deserted. Hadleigh puts on 

 its coat — the day's work is done ! 



Of course it must be remembered that many of 

 these men ha\e never handled a hoe, or an axe, or 

 a shovel in their lives, and don't know a "mangel 

 top " from a cabbage. Well, they have to be taught ; 

 and they usually prove very apt pupils. I was 

 helping to load manure into the drays one day, and 

 next to me was a young Londoner, who had been a 

 tailor's apprentice. Thrown out of work by too 

 keen competition on the part of his employer, he 

 at last came to Hadleigh, and exchanged the scis- 

 sors and tape measure for the hoe and spade. The 

 manure was wet and sloppy, and, after getting two 

 or three mouthfuls of it from the ex-tailor's fork, 

 I ventured to ask him to throw the manure into the 

 drav instead of feeding me with it. But this sort 

 of thing is taken good-humouredly, as a rule, by 

 the " colonists," and by dint of patience and perse- 

 verance the officers and overseers generally manage 

 to teach a man how to handle his tools before he 

 has been on the colony for long. 



The Hadleigh " colonist " is not placed in one de- 

 partment and kept there during the twelve months 

 that is the average duration of the men's training. 

 He is shifted about, so that he may have a chance 

 of learning all they have to teach, thus giving him 

 an opportunity to become a generally " handy man," 

 who would be useful to any farmer, either in Canada 

 or Australia, for that matter. And it is a significant 

 fact beyond dispute that the percentage of failures 

 amongst the hundreds of men annually sent out to 

 Canada from Hadleigh is so small as to be hardly 

 worth mentioning. 



There was a popular saying amongst the Had- 

 leigh "colonists." It was simply "stick it!" Often 

 while we were out working in the fields, in the midst 

 of a blinding, perishing snow .or sleet storm, one 

 would hear the cheery words of encouragement 

 passed from one to the other ; and, indeed, what 

 better motto could any " colonist " have, whether he 

 was spreading manure at Hadleigh or " backwoods- 

 ing " in Canada ? " If a bloke can stick this, he 

 can stick Canada 1" said a Hadleigh man to me one 

 day. We were up to our knees in mud, and a bit- 

 ing east wind was adding to our discomfort. 1 quite 

 agreed with him. Hadleigh is, without doubt, a 

 splendid place in which to become physically 

 hardened. 



We only worked until 2 p.m. on Saturday after- 

 noons at Hadleigh, after which we had dinner, and 

 were then free to do what we liked or go where we 

 liked. Most of us used to spend a quiet half -hour in 

 scraping from boots and leggings the week's accu- 

 mulation of mud and slush, for which the colony is 

 noted. 



Every man would try to make himself as present- 

 able as possible for the Saturday night " Social, ' 

 which everyone had to attend. There one could 

 hear songs, recitations, solos, etc. — not forgetting 

 selections by the indispensable Army band. And 

 it was good to hear the chorus of some popular song 

 rolling through the barrack-like building from the 

 throats of one hundred and forty lusty men. 



Nor must I forget the " coffee and pie " supper 

 at the conclusion of the social. Each man would be 

 given a mug full of steaming hot coffee and a meat 

 pie of generous proportions. At one time a small 

 charge was made for this, but while I was at Had- 

 leigh the new " Governor " issued an edict that the 

 supper was to be free — a new order of things that 

 the " colonists " appreciated warmly. 



Such, then, was the average day's work at Had- 

 leigh. Of course it varied, according to the weather, 

 season, etc. 



I have written of it as I saw and took part in it 

 during two months of an English winter. 



I have very pleasant recollections of the kindness, 

 sympathy and patience of the various officers under 

 whose direction I worked, and also of the many 

 plucky, persevering and cheerv comrades of my 

 dailv labours in the fields. Good luck to them ! 



