202 REW, DORSET 



houses, etc., were also very roughly constructed 

 with odd bits of material. One man's shed I 

 noticed was roofed over mainly with old tins and 

 bits of carpet. 



GENERAL IMPRESSIONS. 



Taking Rew as a whole, I cannot say that I was 

 impressed with any general air of extreme pros- 

 perity. The place gave one a feeling of desperate 

 struggle, hard work, and poverty. But there was 

 a spirit of independence in the people and happi- 

 ness in working for themselves which seemed to 

 compensate for everything. The pervading tone 

 was one of delight at being their own masters, even 

 if they had to work harder for it. With the excep- 

 tion of a few cases the place is practically a colony 

 of small dealers, each owning their cart and horse 

 and hawking their goods about Dorchester, Wey- 

 mouth, Portland, and Abbotsbury, besides doing 

 carrier work. They work harder and for longer 

 hours than the ordinary agricultural labourer, and 

 are certainly, taken as a whole, worse housed. 



SUMMARY. 



The general agricultural conditions of the neigh- 

 bourhood are not in any way encouraging. Wages 

 are low, and the demand for labour does not exceed 

 the supply. The soil is not particularly good, and 

 there are no special facilities for the production of 

 any particular crop. 



The farm is, however, conveniently situated near 



