TJic Duke of St Albans on the Agricultural Labourer 



farmer, the blot on the village was the 

 labourer's cottage. I can only say that as 

 much improvement has been made in the 

 way of new cottages erected for labourers as 

 in the dwellings of landlords or farmers. It 

 is a work of time to rebuild labourers' cot- 

 tages and to sweep away old ones. Having 

 referred to the subject of life estates and the 

 difficulties there were in applying such a 

 principle, his Grace went on to say : — The 

 landlord must do this — he must put up 

 houses for the labourers, and that will do 

 much to reheve the present question of agri- 

 cultural labour. I cannot refrain, however, 

 from reminding you of an excellent obser- 

 vation made by Lord Palmerston at a 

 meeting at Romsey, in Hants. Some one 

 said, " Oh, but good cottages cannot be made 

 to pay," to which Lord Palmerston replied, 

 " That is not the right way to look at it ; any 

 gentleman who is so fortunate as to possess 



a landed estate does not hesitate to put up 

 good stables for his cows, good styes for his 

 pigs, and they ouglit still more to build good 

 cottages for their labourers, the moving power 

 without which nothing could be done." When 

 all these things are done, continued the 

 noble duke, when we meet some of the re- 

 quirements of the labourer, I trust this ques- 

 tion will arrive at a settlement. If the 

 labourer continues to claim more than is his 

 in fairness due, then no doubt something will 

 be done among farmers, I hope that these 

 Chambers of Agriculture will unite farmers 

 together as a class, not for the purpose of 

 underselling each other, and not that they 

 may be like a rope of sand, but that they 

 may be united in improving the state of agri- 

 culture, and feel that they are one of the 

 greatest and most important trades in the 

 country. By that means they will be doing 

 good to themselves and to the public. 



PROFESSOR FAWCETT ON AGRICULTURAL LABOUR. 



PROFESSOR FAWCETT, M.P., unlike 

 the weasel, must have been napping, 

 when he penned, in CasseWs Magazine for 

 June, these words in reference to the report of 

 the Commissioners appointed to inquire into 

 the condition of women, young persons, and 

 children employed in agriculture : — " How," 

 he asks, "can the condition of all the members 

 of the family be investigated, if no account 

 is to be taken of the father of the family, his 

 wages, his intelligence, his sobriety," &c. A 

 dozen years ago there was a return presented 

 to Parliament, of which Mr Fawcett was not 

 then a member, setting forth the wages re- 

 ceived by agricultural labourers in England. 

 Mr Fawcett, before discussing the condition 

 of the agricultural population in England, 

 should have informed himself on this point. 

 The inquiry into the condition of the agri- 

 cultural labourer and the desire to improve 

 it, is not one of to-day — although sensational- 

 striving after popularity by many persons 



would induce those who have previously 

 taken no interest in the question to believe 

 so. Long before Mr Fawcett entered Par- 

 liament — Parliament, importuned, had taken 

 up the subject of the wages of agricultural 

 labourers ; and the returns, we believe, were 

 tolerably accurate. For the benefit of those 

 who, like Professor Fawcett, do not appear 

 to know of the existence of such a return, and 

 in order thatitmaynot be moved for again (Par- 

 liamentary men are not very economic in the 

 matter of printing, when it costs them very 

 little, but the country a not inconsiderable 

 sum for matter that is often useless — witness 

 he ponderous Blue Books to which the late 

 member for Edinburgh, Mr Adam Black, 

 called attention), we shall here give a brief 

 summary of it. 



In Surrey, during the Michaelmas and 

 Christmas quarters of i860, the weekly wages 

 of men ranged from 12s. to 14s. per week, and 

 a certain allowance of beer was given during 



