BLOCKHOUSES AND HOMES.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] San,—In connection with the very interesting article in your issue of November 16th advocating the settlement of Reservist soldiers with their families in South Africa at the earliest moment after the war (or perhaps not waiting till this guerilla business is finally settled), and the granting of assistance by the British Govern- ment to the settlers to establish themselves, this sug- gestion is submitted. By the stern necessities of war—and I for one believe that the necesity has absolutely justified the act—great sections of the late Republics have been 'swept." The regions were but very sparsely inhabited, and the dwellings sacrificed have after all been but a small proportion of the whole, while the money value is far less probably than is popularly supposed. Still, there will have been a considerable disappearance'f habitations for the Boers themselves when they are permitted to return. They, too, will be aided probably, if they will permit us. Charity, how- ever, begins at home, and the first thought and duty will be for brave, long-enduring " Tommy Atkins," and for the gallant men who, whether from " home " or from North or West or East—Britons the world. over--rallied to the flag and saved the Empire. These are the men to be considered, even before our friends the enemy. The blockhouses which are now being sown over the country—Orange River and Trans- vaal—and which may reasonably be expected to " solve the problem," will probably number thousands. May they not be constructed for their use as little forts now and later for habitations P Little, if any, additional expense would be in- volved in the first instance, and little additional expense would convert them after the war to, on the average, quite as good and comfortable abodes as the Boer or South African farmhouses of those regions heretofore have been.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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