DIMINUTION OF RURAL POPULATION. 51 

 population. In one-fourth of the registration population 



in proper- 

 districts there has been a diminution, of the tion to 



other 



agricultural population in the ten years ending classes in 



England. 



1871, amounting altogether to 108,000. And it 

 is quite certain that this continues. It arises 

 from the natural draft to the better-paid labour 

 of the mining, manufacturing, and other indus- 

 trial centres, which are augmented chiefly by 

 this immigration. Diminished population in 

 the rural districts is followed by a rise of wages ; 

 and this leads to greater economy of labour, 

 both by the introduction of labour-saving 

 machinery and the conversion of arable land to 

 pasture, where the nature of the soil admits. 

 The higher price of meat and dairy-produce 

 also contributes to this change. . But the loss in 

 numbers of the agricultural districts is amply 

 made good by the gain in the rest of the country, 

 the population now employed in agriculture 

 being small compared with that of the other 

 industries. Fifty years ago a fifth of the working 

 population of England was engaged in agricul- 

 ture. At the present time there is less than a 



tenth. There is a danger that this may proceed 

 E2 



