Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-10
FARM COLONIES. General Booths Scheme as Practfsed in Holland and Germany.

=
 in Holland and Germany.
 From the St. James Gazette.]
 Attention has lately been drawn to the question of farm colonies as & means of converting the homeless vagabonds of our streets into useful laborers. For light upon the subject it is necessary for us to turn to the continent.
 The system of farm colonies has been known in Holland since 1918. They have, however, undergone much modification in the last forty years; and it will perhaps be sufficient for our purpose to consider them as they exist at the present time. They are now divided into two classes-the free and the beggar colonies. The former are purely philanthropic institutions. They were brought into existence at times of special distress with a view of finding em- ployment for respectable and competent laborers. On their lands permanent homes and constant work are provided for whole families. We may, however, re- mark that they do not afford much assis- tance in dealing with current distress, see- ing that not more than half dozen new families can be admitted each year into the colonies; and it may also be noted that, in spite of years of residence, the colonists have never become really self supporting.
 to the training labor colonies which we are asked to promote The two most i'm portant institutions of this class in exis- tence in Holland are those at Veehuizen and Ommerschaus, which in 1866 con- tained two thousand and twenty and four hundred inmates respectively. These col onies are supported by the state, and are occupied for the most part by beggars and drunkards committed to them for definite periods at the instance of the police au- thorities. Destitute persons, however, are also admitted on their own application (vreiwilligers.) The colonists are trained and occupied in farm work and other in- dustries, and they receive small wages for their labor; they have every opportunity afforded them of exchanging life of va. grancy and cadging for one of honest work. The results, however, in this di-
 mates on their discharge return to their former occupations; readmissions are the rule rather than the exception; and ot three thousand two hundred and fifty. three persons who were in the colonies in December, 1885, four hundred and twen- ty-five only were there for the first time
 while forty-three had been admitted fifteen times or more. In view of these facts Englishmen would scarcely regard such labor colonies as 2 good investment fol
 their philanthrophio capital. When Sil John McNeill visited the Dutch colonies in 1853 he reported to the board of super vision for the relief of the poor in Scot
 land that it took fifteen colonists to do the
 work of one day laborer. If Dutchmar was made & colonist and kept pauper al ho to ofc civ .l; year, the cost of treating Scotchman il
 the same way would be eight pounds and ten shillings year, or more than twice the actual cost of maintaining pauper 1T Scotland without the pretence of letting him earn his living.
 The German workmen's colonies are stil in the experimental stage; but as they
 have been in existence for some eigh1
 years the experience which they afford is
 well worth the consideration of all who ad vocate the introduction of similar sys
 tenn into this country. The colony at Will helmsdorf was founded in 1882, and il 1887 it provided accommodation for thre, hundred and sixty men. By 1886 sixtee, others Exclusive of branch colonies) hat been opened in Prussia alone. The admis
 sion to these settlements is entirely volun tary. After 8 short period of residenc, l Cuo lIluuiGCS IcCt1ft SOulc SIldll | ton for their work; and in this way an, | laborer, who, through mishap or his ow11 fault, has been reduced to destitution, ha an opportunity of earning 8 character anC also of saving sum of money sufficien to provide himself with clothes and tn tools required for his calling. The aver age stay of each colonist is ninety -eigh days. These German colonies, in thei constitution, resemble the institution which are suggested for our adoption il England much more closely than do thei Dutch prototypes. But we must not for | get that the conditions under which the,
 work are very different from those whicl
 obtain in this country. The most noticea | ble difference, perhaps, is the non-exist | ence in Prussia of our poor-law system | The colonies, in fact, to great extent d, i the work of our warehouses; and if thu | advocates of the German system clain l that 8 percentage of the men admitted tt the settlements are subsequently absorbed | into the ranks of independent labor, W, | might reply that many laborers who ar, l forced in hard times to take refuge in tn, workhouse are to be found afterward pur suing their proper avocations. That | larger proportion are benefited by thei stay in the German colony than by resi- dence in the workhouse it would be diff | cult to prove. The manager at Wllhelms | dorf states that but small minority O.
 the men who pass through his hands dc
 we'll, while the bulk return to the life o
 vagrancy which they led before their ad
 mission; and MT. Davy, who visited tn,
 colony three years ago on behalf of the To
 cal government board, expressed in his re
 port very doubtful opinion as to the de
 sirability of trying any experiments in thil direction in Enp1and On the whole, the experiment of farm colonies, both in Germany and in Holland
 can hardly be said to have met with sucE success as to justify us in hoping very ex tensive results from the adoption of the