Little Empire Migrants
Every month in this year a number of children from our overcrowded towns will go out to one of the Fairbridge Farm Schools in Australia or Canada. The scale of this form of migration within the Empire is, of course, not large in the general scheme; but it is working constantly and has proved itself absolutely and relatively the best form of migration. The Western Australian farm school was the first, and it is the only one of which I have any personal local knowledge; but of this I heard nothing but the highest praise among all classes of Australians. The children grow enamoured of the open life at once and learn to be farmers by preference. That large, beautiful, healthy and potentially rich province is ludicrously under-cultivated and under-populated; but it was found too costly there, as in most other places, to settle families on the land. Each holding meant an outlay of at least a cool thousand pounds; and the excellent schemes (which owed much to Sir James Mitchell, the present Governor-General) had to be brought to an end. Yet how excellent these settle- ments were! I remember visiting one family (who came from the Old Kent Road) with Sir James, and he said to the man : " You will soon be driving your own car." " No," came the quick Cockney reply, "I shall have a chauffeur! "
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