n6 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER, 



The women seem to have possessed more spirit than the 

 men. " Ah, sir," they often said, " if the men had only 

 stuck to the Union as Mr. Arch wanted them to but the 

 men are such cowards. I tell my man that he won't do 

 any good to himself or to anybody else until he joins the 

 Union." 1 



The public house was the People's Parliament, and the 

 most independent place in the village. Very little drunken- 

 ness was witnessed. The English Land Restoration 

 League did not encourage strikes, but attempted to educate 

 the labourers to get what they wanted by means of the vote. 

 Parish Councils were in the air, and much was hoped from 

 the Act which became law in 1894. 



Through the generosity of a subscriber, the Red Vans 

 were able to continue their work until 1897, and their 

 Reports are exceedingly interesting documents of life in 

 the eastern and southern counties as viewed from the 

 standpoint of the labourer's advocate. In the Report 

 issued in 1893 we find the following statement on rates of 

 wages : 



" The ordinary wages of a day labourer in East and South 

 Wilts are generally about IQS. a week (is. 8d. a day), but 93., and 

 even 8s. only, are paid by some employers. Over the greatest 

 part of Hertfordshire us. and I2S. are paid to the daymen, or, 

 where a cottage is provided, a shilling a week less. The wages 

 in the parts of Norfolk visited this year are about the same as in 

 Hertfordshire. 2 The formation of the Labourers' Union in 

 Berkshire had the effect, during last winter and summer, of 

 preventing a reduction below the figures quoted in last year's 

 report. Weekly wages of 133., 143., and 155. are common in 

 Warwickshire ; often the pay is lower, and sometimes higher ; 

 but cottages are considerably dearer than in the other counties." 



The wages above quoted were summer wages, subject in 

 most instances to a reduction of 2d. a day in winter, when 

 the total weekly earnings were still further reduced by the 

 greater irregularity of employment, the labourers being 

 usually paid only for the days they are actually at work. 



1 Church Reformer, July, 1891. 



1 This is confirmed by a statement made by Alderman Geo. Edward 

 in 1893. Mr. Wilson Fox put them at 123. or 133. a week. 



