APPENDIX 461 



upon the subject in my neighbourhood make the same complaint, and 

 the other day when going over a farm not far from Halesworth, the 

 man in charge of it told me that the labour on a neighbouring farm 

 of nearly two hundred acres had been reduced to that of the bailiff in 

 charge of it and one horseman through all the winter months, the 

 place being kept going only by its owner or tenant occasionally send- 

 ing over men from another farm at a distance. 



Now I pass on from personal observations, which, after all, must 

 be very partial and limited, to those furnished by Parliamentary and 

 other records, or by gentlemen in neighbouring counties who have 

 kindly answered my questions upon the matter. First I quote from 

 the report of the inspector of the union counties of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 with parts of Essex and Cambridge, Mr. Philip Bagenal, for 1897-8, 

 as made by him to the Local Government Board. In it he says : 



'In the years 1871-91 the census returns show that one-tenth of 

 the agricultural labourers of Norfolk had left the land. There is too 

 much reason to believe that since 1891 the rate of decrease has been 

 accelerated. For the same period in Suffolk the decrease in the same 



class was a fraction over 10 per cent a constant drain of the 



best class of wage-earners is thus going on. The old and infirm are 

 left and these necessarily come on the rates.' 



The next document I shall quote from is the ' Report by Mr. Henry 

 Rew (Assistant-Commissioner) on the county of Norfolk,' published in 

 1895. In paragraph 73, page 39, he says : 



' That the number of labourers employed upon the land in Norfolk 

 has decreased, and is decreasing, goes almost without saying.' Then 

 he quotes figures, and adds, 'in the twenty years 1871-91, therefore, 

 one-tenth of the agricultural labourers of Norfolk have left the land. . . 

 There is good reason to believe that since 1891 the decrease has been 

 accelerated.' 



Further on he shows that between 1871 and 1894 in fourteen 

 Norfolk union districts there has been a net decrease in population of 

 11,235, whereas between, 1871 and 1891 the population of England and 

 Wales increased by over six millions, showing that the diminution is 

 in agricultural districts alone. Further, in paragraph 76 he quotes the 

 following striking allegations : 



' The majority of farmers consider that the quality of the labour 

 has deteriorated. They especially alluded to the lack of interest in 

 their work exhibited by the men, and particularly by the younger men. 

 " The young men," said one witness, " will not learn farmwork, and 



