2a8 



The Review of Reviews. 



word is understood in conscript armies, nor " long," as 

 it used to be in our own service when e\-cry man was 

 free to serve till he had earned a pension. 



Our system may best be described as one of 

 "medium" service. Normally the soldier serves 

 seven years with his regiment and subsequently five 

 in the Reserve. He joins the Army when little more 

 than a boy, and when he returns to civil life on his 

 transfer to the Keserve seven years later he fmds his 

 connection with any civil employment he may have 

 had before enlisting completely broken. He has to 

 make a fresh start among men who have been acquiring 

 skill in their avocations while he has been serving his 

 country. He enters a severe competition handic^ipped 

 by the fact that his competitors have had seven years' 

 start. It is small wonder that he often fails to make 

 up the lost ground. And failure is a cumulative force. 

 It drives its victims, unless thev have the rare power 

 of resisting it, with ever-increasing rapidity towards 

 the condition of hopelessness and inefficiency from 

 which recovery is almost impossible. It is com- 

 parati\ely seldom that 'the soldier is devoid of average 

 resolution or incapable of reasonable effort at the 

 outset of his civil career. It is the hopeless quest for 

 settled means of living which gradually unfits him for 

 steady work. 



It comes within the experience of most officers to 

 meet men whom they can remember high-spirited, 

 confident, and thoroughly capable, reduced to desti- 

 tution and almost past benefiting permanently by 

 any help. I'.ut even if we take the average character 

 of the soldier to be as low as many who do not know 

 him put it, there are undoubtedly among the men who 

 leave the Army every year a considerable number 

 of excellent quality who nevertheless often fail to 

 establish themselves. There must be thousands of such 

 men in each year's output, and some time must elapse 

 before the Association finds itself in a position to deal 

 with more than a few hundreds at a time. It would 

 therefore be unreasonable to decry the scheme on 

 the ground that suitable human material is not at 

 hand. Rxperience alone can show how many old 

 soldier., can be fitted for land settlement. There can 

 be no doubt that more suitable men are available 

 than it will be possible to provide for till the scheme 

 develops. 



And the time is propitious. Public opinion and 

 the tendency of legislation fa\'our an increase in the 

 luimlier of those engaged in agriculture. The sm;dl 

 holdings movement is sure sooner or later to result in 

 greater success than has hitherto attended it. The 

 Dominions are eagerly competing for settlers to develop 

 their vacant spaces, and ofTer liberal inducements in 

 the way of free or cheap land, assisted [)assages, ready- 

 made homesteads, and generous credit to men of the 

 right kind. Above all, the forms of organisation which 

 agriculture needs to enable it to hold its own among 

 organised industries, and the methods by which 

 organi.saiion can be applied, lia\e been reduced to a 



iencc hv the genius of Sir Horace I'iunketi and tlie 



labours of the increasing number who have realised 

 the value of his work and joined in it. 



It may be well to consider an objection to the pro- 

 posals of the Association which has been raised in 

 more than one quarter. It has been suggested that 

 the scheme overioolcs the important fact that agri- 

 culture is an industry which requires much varied 

 knowledge and technical skill, that it contemplates 

 the impossible in looking to unskilled labour to make 

 farming profitable. It would be nearer the truth to 

 say that the Association starts with recognition of the 

 skilled character of agricultural work as the very basis 

 and foundation of its programme. The men to be 

 trained will no doubt in many cases com.e to the work 

 with little or no previous experience. But all men 

 necessarily approach their calling in the first instance 

 without experience. Working farmers, like other 

 workers, have to learn their business, and moreover 

 have usually to earn their living during the process. 

 The training will, therefore, extend over as long' a time 

 as may be found necessary to produce efficiency. If 

 need be it will cover the five years of Reserve service. 

 It will follow the course by which the ordinary farmer 

 attains proficiency, but a carefullv-thought-out system 

 will be applied with a view to expediting the acqui- 

 sition of knowledge and skill. The system is an 

 adaptation of that applied b\- Herr Otto Kellerhalls 

 with such marked success at the rolutiie penileiilidire at 

 Witzwil in Switzerland. It consists in employing 

 along with those to be instructed a large proportion of 

 highly skilled workers who labour themselves and 

 teach mainly by example. It is found that by this 

 method unskilled labour can be rapidly rendered 

 efficient, so that there is no reason why the unskilled 

 soldier-agriculturist should not be worthy of his hire 

 during by far the greater part of his term of instruc- 

 tion. Indeed, it is a matter of common knowledge that 

 farmers find it well worth their while to take on un- 

 skilled but willing workmen and pay them living wages 

 while thev gradually improve in efficiency. 



Naturall)' the first step will be the establishtiienf 

 of training farms at home. The work and instruction 

 will cover as wide a field, agricultural and horticuluiral. 

 as possible. The men will be encouraged to specialise 

 gradually as their capabilities reveal themsehes and 

 they decide on their future careers. It is hoped thai 

 other training farms may shortly be established in 

 the Dominions, v.here those who decide to emigratt 

 may pass an intermediate stage in learning local 

 conditions. The constant aim will be to make th( 

 scheme self-supporting ; but, of course, there is ar 

 experimental stage to be passed, and it is seluon 

 possible to make experiments pay. 



The terms of Army service, prejudicial as they arc 

 to the interests of the men who return to urban industry 

 lend themselves with peculiar aptness to the land settle- 

 ment scheme. When transferred to the Reserve th( 

 soldier is usuallv in the fullest \'igour. and when finalh 

 discharged is not beyond the a.ge at which averagr 

 men are best fitted to embark cm inde|)cndent careers 



