ter line from sunset to
sunrise, and, as each woman claimed equality with Lane, the notice was
torn down. Lane, however, produced a bundle of proxies from members of
the movement in Australia, so that his single vote constituted a
majority! He then assumed the post of dictator.

The party then split into two factions; one that believed in Lane, and
the other that objected to his despotic control and questioned his right
to allot to them the "dirty jobs," such as "washing up" and "scrubbing
the decks."

After many trying adventures the socialists reached the site of the
communistic settlement and found opportunity to study and compare
Socialism in practice and in theory. They had at last done away with the
bad old methods of capitalism, which "ground the people down and robbed
them of rest, energy, food and life"; so the "New Australians"
determined to avoid drudgery in their new life, and were very keen on
being properly "uplifted." There were a number of musical instruments in
the stores, so thirty-six socialists formed a band and practised
assiduously in the pleasant shade of the trees for a considerable
proportion of the time they should have been clearing timber and
building houses under the tropical sun.

Those who toiled hardest protested, but Lane, with a stern hand and a
revolver in his belt put down revolt and punished those who disputed his
decision by setting them the most disagreeable tasks.

Against Lane's decision there was no appeal. Three men disobeyed him and
he ordered them out of the colony. One of them had put L1000 into the
venture and wanted to argue. Lane, however, called in a posse of native
soldiers, armed to the teeth. They marched into the camp with fixed
bayonets, and the three malcontents were taken out and cast adrift.

One of the "faithful" wrote at this time:--

"We have surrendered all civil rights and become mere cogs in a wheel.
We are no longer active factors in the scheme of civilisation: in fact,
each man is practically a slave. Lane does the thinking; we do the work.
Result--barbarism!"

A third of the party soon broke camp and threw themselves upon the
charity of Paraguay. Those who stayed behind shortly afterwards expelled
Lane. With forty-five sympathisers he set out to establish another
Paradise!

Those who stayed behind drew up a series of regulations that made any
change a subject for universal discussion, and as the regulations were
being continually altered, publi