52 LABOURERS' WAGES 



returns, fell by over io| millions sterling 

 between 1875 and 1894 ; and in the same 

 period the capital value of land is stated to 

 have fallen from 30 to about 18 years' 

 purchase of annual value. " On this basis, 

 which is probably an extreme one, the 

 capital value of land fell between 1875 and 

 1894 from ;^2,oo7,330,ooo to £1,011,829,212, 

 a decrease of £995,500,788, or about 50 per 

 cent." (Hirst). There is clearly a large pro- 

 cess of change going on, and one feature of 

 it is that land-ownership without cultiva- 

 tion has passed from being a great source of 

 income and is tending to become an expen- 

 sive hobby which only rich men can afford. 



Proposals to Raise Wages. 



It is not the object of this volume to 

 criticise proposed measures of reform, except 

 for the purpose of explaining them ; but two 

 points in connection with wages, which have 

 a bearing on the question of raising them by 

 legislation where they are low, may be 

 mentioned here. The first is that labourers 

 have in the past rather been driven than 

 drawn off the land in this country, as was 

 shown in a previous chapter. In recent years 

 that has changed, but the attraction is not 

 so much higher wages as a wider outlook. 

 Agricultural life offers no prospects to young 

 men of spirit. 



