The
undertaker, to use the word in vogue in the Stuart days when such
enterprises were in high favour, always leaves a name among posterity,
generally an honoured name, and in nearly every case one associated with
courage, perseverance, and in some measure with benevolence. The
picturesque and sentimental side will always remain to the credit of the
reclaimers of the waste of Neptune's manor. But if the balance of
profitable expenditure, or of good done to others, is weighed between
winning land from the sea and expenditure in improving the cultivation of
land already accessible, the award should probably be given to the latter.
Intensive cultivation and the improvement of the millions of acres which
we now possess is a more thankworthy task, demands more brains, and should
give greater results than the gaining of a few thousands of acres now
covered by water. This conclusion is not the one which any lover of
enterprise or of picturesque endeavour would prefer. It is a pity that it
is so. Perhaps in days to come when wheat is once more precious the sea
wastes may once more be worth recovery. But even so they are not desirable
spots on which to plant a population.
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