PUBLIC SCHOOL BOYS AND THE EMPIRE.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Twelve years work in South Australia taught me :
(1) That, for immigrants, character is a more important capital than money ; given willingness to work, and a certain power of adapting themselves to conditions, men of character arc not slow to secure competence and independence.
(2) That new world conditions of agriculture and pastoral work differ enough from those holding in this country to make training here frequently a waste of time. (3) That, on the whole, those new settlers succeeded best who bought their experience and made their mistakes before they had any money capital to lose. Thus they did not lose courage.
Settlements for irrigation-farming at Renmark and Mildura on the Murray supplied, even twenty years ago, an opening specially suitable for the Public School boy, whose main capital was character and energy. His society included retired officers and Civil Servants from India, business men from London and Manchester, sons of clergy and university men. All had pined for open air, independence and a chance of founding a home. They found this, and certainty of sub- sistence with small likelihood of making a fortune. During the last few years these facilities have been immensely increased. In wheat-growing Gippsland, a slightly larger capital gave chances of clearing a 300-acre plot and selling it at a profit. During the last fifteen years I have been able to recommend some scores of men, of various types, to friends in Australia. They have rarely failed to make good. It seems to me a most important point that they have been received, advised and fathered at the other end.
A small committee in London, co-operating with a corre- sponding body in Victoria for this purpose, could attract a growing stream of the best type of immigrant. An aposUe and personal go-between is needed who should link English Public Schools with new world openings. Exchange of clergy between England and Australia had by 1914 become invaluable in connecting country villages with bush townships. As transport becomes less expensive this abiding nexus can come again into action.—! am, Sir, etc.,
• ARTHUR G. B. WEST,
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