Cost of Establishment.

Cost, of necessity, has to be a first consideration in any settlement policy. The self-supporting small farm can be financed at an expenditure of not more than £700, even where the whole of the land has to be developed from a virgin condition. Where suitable developed land can be obtained on a leasehold basis, the capital expenditure can be very much less.

If it is assumed, however, that £700 capitalisation is necessary to establish a one-family farm, this would mean about 1,400 families per million pounds of capital expenditure. Even if it happened that interest on such money would have to be found by the State for a few years—and there really should be no need for this—such expenditure would appear to be far preferable to the alternative—an enormous number of families remaining with no future, except, perhaps, complete dependence on the State.