EDUCATIVE  COLONIES  AT  HADLEIGH

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structure  and  object,  of  the  highest  interest.  While  admitting ­
  women  and  recognising  the  family  life,  it  exercises  a
certain  selection  of  colonists  and  is  animated  by  the  idea
of  so  organising  groups  of  labourers  who  would  otherwise
be  competing  for  employment  in  an  overcrowded  market,
that  they  may  be  able,  with  some  outside  assistance  of
capital,  to  apply  their  labour  so  as  to  make  a  self-supporting
community.  The  colony,  however,  is  at  present  in  a
tentative  condition,  having  been  considerably  crippled  in
its  earlier  development  by  difficulties  of  management,  and
its  numbers  hitherto  have  been  too  small  to  test  how  far
its  design  of  being  self-supporting  is  feasible.  The  idea
which  it  embodies,  that  of  a  permanent  settlement  of
selected  working-class  families  grouped  in  a  self-sufficing
and  co-operative  community,  relieves  the  Starnthwaite
colony  from  many  of  the  objections  which  apply  to  the
free  temporary  relief  colonies,  and  if  the  permanence  and
co-operative  spirit  can  be  maintained  upon  a  larger  basis
of  population  it  should  afford  a  very  valuable  lesson.
§  a.  Educative  Colonies  at  Hadleigh  and  Elsewhere.
The  largest  example  of  a  Labour  Colony,  or  more
strictly  a  group  of  labour  colonies,  directly  designed  for
dealing  with  the  unemployed,  is  that  undertaken  by  the
Salvation  Army.  The  work  both  in  the  Elevator  Workshops ­
  and  in  the  Farm  Colony  at  Hadleigh,  is  upon  the
individual  as  distinct  from  the  family  basis  and  is  confined
to  single  male  applicants.  In  the  employment  at  the
Workshops  there  is  no  real  selection  upon  entry,  all  may
be  admitted  who  have  registered  themselves  at  the  Labour
Bureau  and  are  unable  to  get  outside  places,  though  men
once  admitted  are  required  to  satisfy  a  certain  test  of