country. The Crown Lands Ordinance was thus passed, allowing for Crown Land to be granted either freehold or leasehold for 99 years. Eliot believed the only way to improve the local economy and ensure the profitability of the Uganda railway, was to encourage European settlement and endeavour in hitherto large areas of uncultivated fertile lands. By the end of 1903, the population of settlers had increased to 100. A further batch of 280 Boers later arrived from South Africa. Amongst the first settlers were affluent British gentry such as Lord Delamere, Lord Hindlip and Lord Cranworth who had the necessary capital to develop large areas of land and live a pseudo-aristocratic life. The land laws were so favourable to settlers that they were described as the most liberal in the world. By 1914, there were approximately 1,300 European settlers in the country, and prior to 1912, South Africans formed the majority of Kenya's White settlers. During the First World War, many more South Africans arrived in East Africa as part of the campaign against German East Africa and stayed to work in Kenya's service economy. By 1915, the government was offering 999 year leases to encourage settlement as well as exemptions from land tax. The state also subsidised White farmers' produce to give them a competitive advantage over Black smallholders in the open markets. Due to the high start-up costs involved in producing coffee and cattle, Kenya earned a reputation as a "big man's frontier". Such men were eager to make Kenya another "White man's country" along the lines of South Africa or Australia, and recognised the need for the "small man" with limited capital on small acreage to increase the White population and provide a more solid foundation for their vision. In 1919, the UK Government launched the Ex-Soldier Settlement Scheme. It became the largest single allocation of land for European settlement in Kenyan history, involving over of land, and increasing the area of White settlement by a third. Applicants were required to be British subjects of pure European origin, who had served in any officially recognised imperial service unit in the war. The majority hailed from Britain, with sizeable amounts from Ireland, India and South Africa. There were also a small number of Canadian cattle ranchers, Australian graziers and New Zealand farmers. A large proportion of the soldier settlers hailed from the upper classes, with a third having