Land Settlement for Ex-Service Men 



the system devised should be so carefully 

 thought out, and should be so sound, that it 

 will provide a model of what land settlement 

 ought to be for all classes of settlers. 



Arguing from what took place after the 

 Boer war, there seems to be little doubt 

 that a large number of men now serving in 

 the forces will wish to settle on the land 

 at the end of the war. There is also the 

 evidence of the men themselves, many of 

 whom say quite definitely that they will 

 never return to clerical work. 



With the proportion of the rural popula- 

 tion to the urban ever decreasing, nationally 

 and imperially this question is of the greatest 

 importance. 



It is clear that cultivators of the soil 

 are more needed than any other type 

 of citizen in the United Kingdom. We 

 should have an overflowing agricultural 

 population at home, so that from its surplus 

 we can send the right type of citizen to 

 win wealth from our lands overseas. From 

 the point of view of defence, large areas of 

 thinly peopled land are a source of weakness. 

 From the point of view of economy, land is 



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