December 21, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
II 
efficient citizen. For this reason we must spend money 
unf^rudgingly upon the medical care of school children, 
and upon the work ol after-care committees. 
All told there are something \mder two thousand school- 
gardens attached to schools in England and Wales- 
yet a school-garden is most necessary to the full develop- 
ment of the manual side, particularly in the country 
schools. Unfortunately, this small number of school- 
gardens increases very slowly. 
If then this development of manual work, as sonic 
years of experience have proved, has such a valuable 
effect upon the pupil, it should be developed as rapidly 
as possible in all elementary schools. No teacher 
unable to give manual instruction properly should be 
asked to attempt it. But there are many teachers well 
qualified who have not vet had the opportunity of giving 
manual instruction. Further, the coming alterations 
in the curriculum of our training colleges for future 
teachers, and the development of holiday and Saturday 
classes in manual instruction will soon provide the neces- 
sary teachers. 
the foundation of all future instruction is laid in the 
elementary school. Hence the great importance of 
beginning at the beginning ; and if certain methods of 
training will give us the most useful type of citizen it 
is the duty of the (",o\-ernment to develop these 
methods without delay. 
After lea\-ing the elementary school the work should 
become more and more vocational as the pupils get older, 
but the literary side must not be neglected, for it is of the 
greatest importance to instil a love of books of the right 
sort. Further, we shall require a great development of 
actual trade schools in pur towns, and of business schools 
teaching first-cla^ commercial methods. Technical in- 
struction of the higher grade stands greatly in need of 
further development. 
Public Schools and Science 
In our great public schools and in our secondary 
schools greater attention should be paid to the teaching 
of science, with the definite object of turning out not only 
a greater number of scientists, but of men who have 
acquired the habit of thinking scientifically. We must 
ha\-e these highly trained scientists if we wish to avoid 
the necessity of having to call in (".ennans to help us in 
developing British industries, and we must have the re- 
mainder of the people with sufficiently scientific attitude 
to appreciate the scientist, who until recently has been 
held more or less in contempt. 
So much for the indication of alterations and new 
measures which would help to raise the general standard 
of education and efiiciency. We have seen that a nation 
requires workers rather than petty clerks, let us now 
ask ourselves —What particular class of workers does 
the nation and the Empire stand most in need of ? The 
answer is not hard to find. 
Let us consider for a moment' the Empire's position in 
regard to land and people. As is well known, the British 
Ivmpire occupies nearly one-fourth of the land surface 
oj the globe. What is unfortunately not so well known 
is that the white agricultural population of the whole 
Empire — that is, men, women, and children, living on 
and by the land— amounts only to 13,400,000. It is, 
therefore, evident that our land is disastrously under- 
populated, and the danger of the situation is shown up 
by the fact that Germany, with an area less than one- 
sixteenth part of our Empire, has an agricultural popula- 
tion of over 20,000,000. The Imperial significance of 
this fact is that having these \ast tracts of land unpeopled 
and lying idle constitutes a grave danger, and it is clear 
that if they are not peopled in the near future by Enghsh- 
speaking^ settlers, they will be colonised before long by 
aUens. 
The sound development of our land resources could 
easily be made to pay for the whole cost of the war. But 
an agricultural population of thirteen and a half millions 
is not enough to develop the land of the Empire if there is 
to be the least possible delay. As far as the United 
Kingdom is concerned, we have already seen that our 
agricultural population has been decreasing steadily, 
not only relatively but absolutely. Yet if the home land 
were farmed as it should be, it would give employment 
to many more thousands of workers. The class of 
workers therefore we require above all, both at home 
and the Empire, are cultivators of the soil. Ihis is 
the purpose which the (io\-ernment must bear in mind in 
any alteration of the present system of education-. No 
change will be of lasting advantage unless it (i) includes 
the raising of the standard of. education and thus turns 
out a more efficient citizen, and {2) endeavours to interest 
children -in the land and to encourage a larger proportion 
of the rising generation to go in for a career on the land, 
either at home or in the Dominions. 
A Rural Atmosphere 
The means by which this stirring of the interest can be 
best achieved is the education gi\cn in the elementary 
schools. In rural schools their inspiration should be 
drawn from their surroundings — there should be a rural 
atmosphere as opposed to the present urban atmosphere. 
This does not mean that we should teach agriciilture 
directly in the rural schools nor docs it mean that children 
should' be unduly influenced to go in for agriculture. It 
only means that thev should be taught about the land 
and plant and animal growth ; that nature study should 
be de\-eloped and every school have its garden. 
In urban schools much of this instruction could be 
given in the nature study lesson, for all children should 
be taught something about the land on which we live and 
mo\-e and ha\e ouV being. In the past we ha\'e been 
" land ignorant," in the future if we are to maintain our 
position and develop our resources we must become 
" land wise." 
In the country the instruction in the new continuation 
day schools would continue to interest the children in the 
land and have a more and more direct bearing on the 
leading industry of the neighbourhood. The rural 
secondary schools should give much more practical 
instruction and all their science work should be based 
upon the land and agriculture. There are several most 
successful rural secondarj^ schools which would serve 
as models for the coming developments. 
The educational work done by county agricultural 
organisers and their staffs is of great importance. Un- 
fortunately, many counties are not attempting this work 
at all, and it seems advisable that all should be obliged 
by law to do so. If instruction in the lower grades is 
developed as outlined here, the result will be that the 
agricultural colleges will have more pupils than is the 
case at present ; and that the whole standard of agri- 
cultural education will rise. In the past no attempt 
has been made to interest children in the land. • If this 
is done in the future, carefully and wisely, there can be 
no doubt that an increasingly large number of the younger 
generation will be attracted to the land. 
Although an altered system of education is the first 
and most pressing task, other changes are most necessary 
and should be effected simultaneously. The conditions 
affecting agriculture, the wages and opportunities of the 
agricultural labourer, the organisation of village and 
countiV life— all these are vital matters demanding 
urgent' attention. The whole problem constitutes a vast 
undertaking, but great as the task is it will have to be 
faced without delay if we value the safety and welfare 
of our people. 
Dcbrctt is the first of the great peerages to put forth its 
issue for 1917 {DehreW^ Peerage. Dean and Son, 37s. 6d.) 
It contains a preface by the Editor, Mr. Arthur Hcsilrige, 
which is full of interest. Of those qualified to appear m this 
book of honours and dignities over 1,450 have fallen in action 
or died of wounds received in action, some holding titles, 
others being direct heirs to titles. But the year has been 
remarkable in other ways so far as the record of the Lords 
Temporal goes. Three baronies that have been in abeyance 
for over three centuries— Strabolgi, Burgh and Dudley— have 
been called out, showing how small a thing is Time where the 
British peerage is concerned. Shakespeare was alive and in 
his prime the last time Lord Burgh sat at Westminster. This 
year thirteen new peers have been created, twenty eight new 
baronetcies (a number only once exceeded in the last twenty- 
five years — namely, in 1911, when it stood at thirty- five) and 
197 knights. Mr. Hesilrige makes the suggestion that the 
L'ood Controller sliould be styled the Chief Larderer, an 
•ancient State Office, which involved the provision of all meats 
etc., at the Royal Banquet after the Coronation. And the 
nation's larder in these days is of the highest importance. 
