WAGES AND POPULATION 13 



members of occupiers' families, in 1908 

 as 1,128,000 in England and Wales and 

 1,340,000 in Great Britain. Excluding occu- 

 piers' families the numbers were 722,000 

 and 838,000 ; excluding the temporarily em- 

 ployed they were 576,000 and 671,000 



Causes of Decline. 



We are at present only setting out the 

 statistical evidence of decline, but in con- 

 nection with the tables given above it is de- 

 sirable to add here some observations on the 

 causes. The fall is seen to be continuous but 

 by no means uniform ; it varies widely in 

 different decades, and an examination of the 

 conditions prevailing at different times 

 throws some light on causation. One point of 

 interest emerges at once in regard to the 

 influence of wages. The movement of wages 

 shows no correspondence at all with rural 

 migration. By far the largest decrease 

 occurred in 1861-71, when wages were rising. 

 Between 1881 and 1891, on the other hand, 

 wages were falling and migration fell too. It 

 might perhaps be argued from this that the 

 movement of wages was the consequence, not 

 the cause, of migration, and that the former 

 rose with a diminished supply of labour. 

 There is probably something in this theory, 

 but it docs not always hold good. In 1851-61, 

 when the least migration took place, wages 



