Land Settlement for the Unemployed Mr. Stewart, the Commissioner for
the Special Areas of England and Wales, is making progress with his schemes for the settlement of families from the distressed areas on the land. Of the 2,000 families for whom pro- vision will be made the majority will be settled in groups of about 40 each under the auspices of the Land Settle- ment Association. But the Association is not concerned only with the distressed areas. So far as unemployed from these regions are concerned the Commission has ample funds for financing the undertaking. But so far as the unemployed of other areas are concerned, the Associa- tion must depend on the pound-for-pound contribution offered by the Government, and is therefore dependent for half the capital on voluntary contributions. This will obviously limit the scope of its operations, though in Lancashire and other districts the problem of unemploy- ment is not very much less acute than in Durham. Per- haps it is as well that this particular scheme should be tried out on a moderate scale at first ; but if it should prove a success there will be no excuse for letting financial considerations stand in the way of its extension on the largest possible scale.
Previous page
