General Booth's Farm Colony.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 11 December 1890, Page 2

General Booth's Farm Colony.

Dwellers in this land of plenty who arc- not accustomed to look after scraps and fragments will be interested, anil perhaps amused, on learning what General Booth proposes to do with the refuse of London which is, in fact, one of the leading departments of his projected scheme of operations. The " salvage " of the householders of London, we are told will be conveyed in barges down the Thames to the wharves of the Farm Colony, there to be utilised in a thousand different ways. To begin with, there are the broken victuals, endless stores of old crusts, which will be capable of being served up when steamed and dressed as human food. Other crusts will serve to diet the horses of which he will have sufficient for a cavalry regiment when the brigade is in full working order. What the horses will not eat will 1)0 passed on to the innumerable clutches of poultry with which the estate will be studded, and " what the poultry will not eat will come to the pig as the residuary legatee."' The Army piggery will be the largest in the land. Round the piggery will spring up an industrial community to feed, to kill, to cure, and to work lup the invaluable porkers. Bacon factories, brush works, saddlery works of all kinds will have to be created and run by the Army. Old clothes form another material from which will spring many industries. The deft fingers of the women will be employed in patching and repairing. A colony of cobblers, technically known as translators, will be formed for the purpose of renovating the damaged shoe-leather of the citizens. Cheap second-hand clothing establishments will be created in order to provide the colonists who an; working for lodgings and rations with the uniform proper to their colony. The old bones of London will lead to the establishment of button works and manure works. The grease, fat kitchen stuff will afford the material for a soap works. The waste paper of London and the otherwise unusable rags will enable the Army to manufacture all its own paper, and at present it uses thirty tons a week. This is merely an inkling of what General Booth proposes to do with his " Household Salvage Brigade," in conjunction with the Farm Colony. The latter is to include an industrial village, and there are to bo fruit farms, cottages with allotments, co-operation on the Ralahine model, and peasant proprietorship — on a kind of perpetual leasing system apparently,

since the fee simple is to be vested in the Army — Christchurch Press.