§ 64. Mr. L. SCOTTasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether any inquiries have been made to ascertain what percentage of the troops at the front want an open-air life after the War, and from what types of regiment, e.g., whether urban or rural; what was the total number asked and what was the average result; and to what extent this average varied as between urban and rural units?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD Of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Acland)At the request of Lord Selborne, Sir Douglas Haig asked the Army Commanders in France to arrange for the commanding officers of certain regiments to have inquiries made through the company officers as to whether any of their men contemplate settling on the land either in the United Kingdom or in the Dominions when the War is over. 97,000 333 men drawn from a huge number of different units were questioned accordingly, and 17,000 men expressed themselves as desirous of settling on the land, either in the United Kingdom or in the Dominions. The Board have not been supplied in all cases with separate figures for each unit selected, but in the case of those of which particulars are available the percentage varied from nil in one battalion of the Rifle Brigade to 46 per cent. in a battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. In two battalions mainly composed of townsmen the percentage was 5, in two battalions mainly composed of miners it was 9, and in two battalions drawn from rural areas it was 28 per cent.