Lord Carnarvon on the Agricultural Labourer 



331 



trades unions had their way, and those 

 pohtical theorists who declared that mere 

 money-payment was the only point which 

 existed between employer and employed, 

 then it would be clear to every one that the 

 rent of the cottages must inevitably be raised. 

 The labourer would find out that his most 

 professed friends were, in reality, his hidden 

 enemies. 



THE LABOURER IN CONNEXION WITH 

 LANDLORD AND TENANT. 



He believed there was an earnest desire on 

 the part of the farmers, and all concerned, 

 to meet this question in a fair spirit, and 

 during the winter he advised them to give 

 their serious consideration to it. This ques- 

 tion, be it remembered, was only a part of the 

 greater one which was coming upon them, 

 and it was one which could not be satisfac- 

 torily settled by mere cash payments. There 

 was the question of privileges, which he dis- 

 liked very much. It was not so simple a 

 matter as it looked to outsiders, and it was 

 one which the labourers, as a rule, preferred 

 to a mere cash payment. He believed the 

 more the labourer understood the question, 

 the clearer would he see there were two sides 

 to the question. He was satisfied that there 

 would be greater facilities for the migration 

 of the labourer from place to place ; but, at 

 the same time, there would be a larger intro- 

 duction of machinery into agricultural pur- 

 suits, and with that there would always occur 

 a diminution in the number of hands neces- 

 sary to work a farm. These were changes 

 which the events of the future would in- 

 evitably bring with them, and they could not 

 be resisted or avoided. If the labourers 

 desired to go to the north of England they 

 would do so, and would probably be able to 

 earn higher wages, because, in the manufac- 

 turing districts the profits might, in some 

 cases, be reckoned at 50 per cent., while in 

 the south of England, the farmer was 



content with his 5, 6, 7, or 10 per 

 cent. And then arose the question, was 

 it policy to the farmer to hold out in- 

 ducements to the labourer which would 

 prevent his leaving? The landlord could 

 help in the matter of cottages and gar- 

 dens ; he might see that they were adapted 

 and sufficient for the population ; he might 

 also see that there was a due appropriation of 

 allotment ground for those who desired it, 

 and that a sufficient number of small hold- 

 ings existed to adm.it of the thrifty improving 

 their position. The establishment of friendly 

 societies was another point which should be 

 closely watched ; and further, he advocated 

 the system of piece work wherever it could 

 be applied, believing it to be sound in prin- 

 ciple. Lastly, there was the principle which 

 had found little favour as yet, but which he 

 believed to be not only in the abstract sound, 

 but which, under certain limitations, might 

 be successfully applied. He alluded to the 

 proposition of the Speaker of the House of 

 Commons to pay the men a certain interest 

 upon the profits of the farm. He considered 

 this was a principle which deserved considera- 

 tion, because it was sound in itself. They 

 were now in a state of transition, and they 

 must prepare for changes; but there were 

 sure and certain ways of meeting those 

 changes without inconvenience to existing 

 interests. There was the motto of an old 

 London company which he remembered, to 

 the effect that by harmony small fortunes 

 were built up, and that by discord the 

 greatest fortunes were ruined. What greater 

 fortunes would there be than the fortunes 

 which had been built up through generations 

 and generations of those who had gone be- 

 fore them; and he would say of English 

 agriculture, might it long thrive and prosper ; 

 and it would prosper in the future as it had 

 prospered in the past, only by the harmony 

 and concord of those who were mostly con- 

 cerned in it, 



