I should like to point out that this venture is one of great and almost of national importance, because if it fails then it will be practically proved that it is impossible to establish small holders on the land by artificial means, at any rate, in England, and at the present prices of agricultural produce.  It is not often that a sum of L40,000 will be available for such a purpose, and with it the direction of a charitable Organization that seeks no profit, the oversight of an Officer as skilled and experienced as Lieut.-Colonel Hiffe, and, in addition, a trained Superintendent who will afford advice as to all agricultural matters, a co-operative society ready to hire out implements, horses and carts at cost price, and, if so desired, to undertake the distribution or marketing of produce.  Still, notwithstanding all these advantages, I have my misgivings as to the ultimate result.

The men chosen to occupy these holdings by a Selection Committee of Salvation Army Officers, are for the most part married people who were born in the country, but had migrated to the towns.  Most of them have more or less kept themselves in touch with country life by cultivating allotments during their period of urban residence, and precedence has been given to those who have shown a real desire to return to the land.  Other essentials are a good character, both personal and as a worker, bodily and mental health, and total abstention from any form of alcohol.  No creed test is required, and there are men of various religious faiths upon the Settlement, only a proportion of them being Salvationists.

I interviewed two of these settlers at hazard upon their holdings, and, although the year had been adverse, found them happy and hopeful.  No. 1, who had been a mechanic, proposed to increase his earnings by mending bicycles.  No. 2 was an agriculturist pure and simple, and showed me his fowls and pigs with pride.  Here, however, I found a little rift within the rural lute, for on asking him how his wife liked the life he replied after a little hesitation, ’Not very well, sir:  you see, she has been accustomed to a town.’

If she continues not to like it ‘very well,’ there will, I think, be an end to that man’s prospects as a small holder.

I had the pleasure of bring present in July, 1910, at the formal opening of the Boxted Settlement, when the Salvation Army entertained several hundred guests to luncheon, many of them very well-known people.  The day for a wonder was fine, General Booth spoke for over an hour in his most characteristic and interesting way; the Chairman, Earl Carrington, President of the Board of Agriculture, blessed the undertaking officially and privately; everybody seemed pleased with the holdings, and, in short, all went merrily as a marriage bell.

As I sat and listened, however, the query that arose in my mind was—­What would be the state of these holdings and of the tenants or of their descendants on, say, that day thirty years?  I trust and hope that it will be a good state in both instances; but I must confess to certain doubts and fears.