272 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



a hard taskmaster, and exercises an old-world patriarchal 

 tyranny over the lads, and even the married men, when they 

 are weak in the powers of resistance. Mr. Roberts tells 

 us of one or two instances of this. 



" A young lad arrived at the house of our branch secretary 

 in a certain village early one morning seeking advice, for his 

 employer having heard he had joined our organisation threat- 

 ened to take two meals a day from him and work him out in 

 all weathers." 



He knows " of a man with a wife about to be confined 

 being engaged on low wages and damnable conditions be- 

 cause he knew the man could not move on," and of a West- 

 moreland farmer, who said to his men, when the milk was 

 raised in price : " The kids will have to get some oot of 

 their mothers' chests." 



At one meeting the lads left in order to be in at 9 p.m., 

 one youth leaving early to sleep in the cowshed, the door 

 being barred at 9.15 in the month of June. 



He, like other organisers, found difficulty in obtaining 

 rooms for meetings. At Kirkby Lonsdale his meeting 

 was broken up by farmers. At Kirkhampton the meeting 

 being again broken up by the farmers, " a comrade Steel of 

 the N.U.R." challenged any man to come on to the King's 

 highway. No one accepted the challenge, although the 

 whole village resolved to kick out the agitators. It is very 

 rare to find an instance like this where agricultural labourers' 

 and farmers combine together to hound out an organiser. 



In many of these small farms, it must be remembered 

 that the entire work is accomplished by the farmer's family. 

 Mr. Roberts tells us he has worked on farms in this district 

 on an average thirteen hours a day with four hours on 

 Sundays. " The last hay-time I put in was during a fine 

 summer when we worked from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. for three 

 weeks except Sundays, receiving no overtime pay, only my 

 weekly wage of los. 6d. and food." 



He admits that both wages and food are now better 

 than they used to be, and that there are certain advantages 

 in the hiring system, such as drawing wages during sick- 

 ness and having clothes mended and washed. 



