THE HOMECROFTING SCHEME [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Snt,—Birth-time
is a critical time, even if it is of Something less than a Homeerofting Scheme. And it is in certain ways a pity for me to be writing to you at this moment. • But I feel I must break silence again, were it only to obtain expression for my sense of the deep courtesy of Spectator sympathizers and supporters. Not a single one amongst them has sent a question to me, despite my invitation to them to do so freely ; nor written a word, except when, here and there, one or two who are specially familiar with matters analogous to what we have in hand have whispered to me such things as " courage," " you are on a right thing,"" remember it will be slow," " if my experience could be of any use to yOu," or the like. It may be some considerable time yet before I am in a position to report success or failure of the first stage of our enterprise. But I want to thank those people, here and now, for sustaining about us the atmosphere in which one can work in heart and hope. .
And, vitally, we are so working. What is occupying us is, of course, the accountancy. By that, you told us, we must have the courage to stand or fall ; and such would certainly have been our own resolution, even if you had not so beauti- fully inscribed it for us across our banner. We must find a site that will pay. What is consuming the time is the effort to get one as close up against the actual town as possible, before giving our people a mile or two to travel, which, might affect the willingness of some to come in. We are out to secure conditions as nearly ideal as can possibly be got for our expe- rimental scheme ; and full freedom ,is being given to the architect we are consulting to select and report on the site that is best for our purpose.
This leads me to say, for the information of our friends who remember that originally we had a definite site in view and had an option on it, that on August 22nd last, the date on which our option expired, we felt that we could not exercise it without a conference of business men who were then on holiday. The event justified our caution ; for, while all the land was cultivable, a deep, cold, clay subsoil was found in part of it, which they thought would load the pioneer scheme unnecessarily, while better land was in all probability avail- able. But their chief objection was towards incurring the odium of either ejecting about thirty allotment cultivators already on the best of the land or forcing them into our new scheme. But pending a definite report, which will certainly come, although it is impossible to say how soon, I wish audibly to thank our friends for their attitude, which has meant so much to me, of unspoken faith in the judgment of the business men who have been strenuously and unremittently occupied in getting down to a basis for a definitive report ; and I shall, with confidence and gratitude, continue to speak to those men of nothing but a patient desire on the Spectator readers' part that ample opportunity for an unhurried investigation of every proposition that comes before them shall be allowed to
[Professor Scott asks us to acknowledge a donation of £10 for the Homecrofting Scheme from Sir Harry Reichel, which was sent to him after our list had closed.—En. Spectator.]
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