172 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



tion abound. Considering the fearful looseness of the 

 agreement, it becomes more and more necessary to 

 have some one we know as our landlord. If possible, 

 let the members of the Club, after all, be the chief 

 agents in building their own House. It may not yet 



be too late — the great mistake so far has only been a 

 little too early — and so let the offer of these shares be 

 made in a straightforward intelligible letter, clearly 

 defining the amount of liability, and the genuine cha- 

 racter of the undertaking. 



THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY. 



A few years ago it was a debatable question among 

 statists and financiers whether the gold discoveries would 

 have any, and what influence, in enhancing the value of 

 commodities. That the diffusion of gold; and the ex- 

 tended employment and comforts it affords to large 

 classes of society, are beginning to have some such effect 

 would certainly seem to be the case just now, although 

 there are, at the same time, other causes exercising an 

 influence in enhancing the prices of food. That the 

 diffusion of so large a sum as two hundred miUions of 

 gold in the past ten years over Europe and America 

 must have had a beneficial effect, no one will, we think, 

 deny. An article of value of this kind, on which there 

 is so little waste, passing as a medium of exchange, and 

 replacing, as it has done in Europe,[so much depreciated 

 paper money, cannot but have benefited labour and 

 commerce. In the past ten years we have added 54| 

 millions sterling to our previous gold coinage in Great 

 Britain, and the extension of comfort, and even disper- 

 sion of wealth, would seem to have reached especially 

 down to the operative classes, whose wages have been 

 higher, and their means of living and providing for 

 themselves and families greatly improved. 



Let us glance at a few facts which may guide us in 

 our investigation. Firstly, there has been a gradual 

 increase in the number of small fund-holders of late. 

 Out of a total of 266,719 persons holding stock in the 

 public funds last year, 223,628 were in the receipt of 

 dividends under jt^O, and of these 137,316 were for less 

 than .£10. Again, the Savings' Banks returns afford 

 some slight index of the position of the bulk of the people, 

 and here there has been a gradual and steady improve- 

 ment both in the number of depositors and the amount 

 of their deposits. Taking first the United Kingdom as 

 a whole, we find the progress in the past six years has 

 been as follows : 



1854. 1859. 



Number of depositors .... 1,277,873 .... 2,086,776 

 Amount of deposits £33,736,080 .... £40,997,630 



Now it should be remembered that the amount that may 

 be deposited by individuals in a savings' bank is limited, 

 and the diffusion is shown by the fact that £36,500,000 

 was deposited by about 1,500,000 individuals (excludii)g 

 Friendly Societies, &c.), giving an average sum of over 

 i£24 to each depositor. There is another criterion of 

 prosperity, which may be referred to — the decline of 

 pauperism — even with an increasing population. At 

 Lady-day, 1856, the total number of paupers in receipt 

 of relief was 1,111,476; while at Lady-day 1859, it 

 was only 1,031,759. The amount expended for the re- 

 lief of the poor in each country was respectively as 

 follows : 



1856. 1859. 



England and^Wales £6,004,244 £5,558,689 



Scotland 629,349 .... 657,366 



Ireland 733.212 .... 524,063 



£7,366,805 £6,740,188 



Scotland seems to be the exception to the general im- 

 provement. And yet the Savings' Banks returns for 

 tfeat portion of the kingdom show an increasing number 

 of depoiitors, with m ftTersge amount of £16 lOs., for 



the last three years, to each of nearly 2,000,000 deposi- 

 tors. Steady employment and good wages place means 

 at the disposal of the labourer, the artizan, and the 

 factory hand, which he is not slow to avail himself of, 

 in increasing his comforts in respect to food and clothing. 

 Hence we may partially account for the increased de- 

 mand for butcher's meat. There has been also a longer 

 Parliamentary session than usual, an increased floating 

 population in the metropolis, and a greater demand 

 (under adverse circumstances) for butcher's meat. Our 

 supplies too of cattle from the Continent were less last 

 year than they were in former years, and there was at 

 the same time a greatly reduced import of bacon 

 and hams ; not one-third of the supply of 1857. These 

 are all points deserving of notice. 



Emigration has had its influence in the last few years 

 in abstracting labour and enhancing wages to those 

 at home. With so many competing British colonies 

 sending special funds for promoting free or assisted 

 emigration from our shores — with the inducement of 

 free grants of land to settlers in Canada and New Zea- 

 land, and the increasing labour wants of the United 

 States, in railroad building and public works, farming, 

 &c., there have been great inducements held out to 

 many to leave our shores. Hence those who remain 

 behind have found their labour in greater request and 

 better paid. The Government, also, has been a com- 

 petitor in the labour market, in the increased demands 

 for the army and navy ; and for these increased sup- 

 plies of fresh meat have been required. 



In Ii'eland the improvement in the condition of the 

 people of late years is most remarkable. In the first 

 week in January in 1849, the total number of paupers 

 receiving relief was 620,747 ; in the next year it was 

 reduced by one-half j in 1855 the number dropped to 

 86,819, and it has gradually gone down, year by year, 

 until in January, 1860, the number receiving relief 

 was under 45,000 ; and a very few of these were able- 

 bodied. Exclusive of the large Irish emigration in 

 previous years, about 70,000 have left Ireland an- 

 nually in the past four years, their destination being 

 chiefly to the United States. The success attending 

 their efforts is proved by the large remittances sent 

 home to bring out their friends and relatives. Thus 

 we have the official fact recorded by the Emigration 

 Commissioners, that in the three years ending 1858 

 upwards of £2,000,000 sterling was remitted by set- 

 tlers in North America to their friends in the United 

 Kingdom, through bankers and merchants, exclusive 

 of what may have been sent home through private 

 friends. Some £50,000 or £60,000 per annum is also 

 sent in the same way by settlers in Australia, to aid 

 their friends or relatives in emigrating. 



It must also be taken into consideration, that the 

 place of those who have left Ireland has been, to some 

 extent^ filled by the introduction of labour from Eng- 

 land and Scotland, a large amount of British capital 

 having been invested in land and grazing operations in 

 Ireland. Another feature worthy of notice, as an 

 index of social improvement, is the number of de- 



fositors and amount of deposits in savings'-banks in 

 relfind. These have steadily increased, notwitbstand- 



