407 



DECEMBER 



December 3. — December has opened with rough weather, and 

 yesterday the wind rose steadily, till at nightfall it blew a gale, 

 before which, at sunset, gorgeous-coloured clouds went driving 

 past like the chariots of a heavenly host. 



To-day I went to Norwich to attend a meeting of the Norfolk 

 Chamber of Agriculture, of which I am a member. The subject 

 under discussion was that of ' Better methods of remunerating 

 skilled agricultural labour,' which was introduced in an interesting 

 speech by Mr. Lee Warner, and dwelt upon in its various aspects 

 by other gentlemen. 



If I may criticise, however, it seemed to me that the debate 

 turned too much upon such matters as technical instruction, 

 benefit societies, ploughing matches, «S:c. Piece-work also was 

 discussed, some of the speakers being in favour of and some against 

 the system. As regards ploughing and thatching competitions, my 

 experience has been that it is not easy to persuade labourers — who 

 are a suspicious folk — to enter their nam.es for them. I remember 

 a good many years ago that, with some difificulty, one of my own 

 men was induced to compete for a prize in stack-building. It 

 never even entered his mind that there was a possibility of fair 

 dealing about the matter. 



' I doubt they'll give that to their own people ' — ' they ' being the 

 the judges — he said to me, shaking his head ; and, as it happened, 

 by bad luck, I believe that they did. My friend did not seem in 

 the least surprised, but I do not think that he will enter for any 

 more competitions. Kissing, in the opinion of the agricultural 



