30 

 VALUABLE TESTIMONY. 



Thk Earl of .Jkkskt said, with regard to the use of beer in the hay and 

 harvest fields, he might say that for four years they had discontinued the 

 practice of giving men beer during the harvest months on his farm. The 

 men were given money instead. His agent, Mr. Little, knew that the men 

 liked this arrangement, which was advantageous in more ways than one. 

 There were now no disputes as to the quantity of beer each person should 

 receive, and no time was lost in fetching the beer. Indeed he thought it 

 would be difficult to carry on a large farm like his under any other system. 

 He was bound to say, in justice to the labourers, that he had a most excellent 

 body of men. He believed that every employer of labour who tried this plan 

 would be satisfied with the system ; indeed he believed he was not the only 

 person in the neighbourhood who had adopted this custom, and found it to be 

 a satisfectory one. — Speech at Bicester Conference., December 1*J, 1881. 



Thk Hon. Pekcy liAiiiuNoroN said it was a common impression 

 amongst labouring men that they could not do hard work without drink, but 

 he was happy to say that was an exploded idea. He thought it had been 

 proved that they could work equally well without it. He had done all he 

 could in that direction himself ^ he had paid his men money instead of beer. 

 He supplied no beer, but in its place he gave them as much tea as they liked 

 to drink gratis. He had found the greatest benefit from it. — Speech at 

 Buckingham Conference, October 31, 1881. 



Sir Henkv Dashwood. Bart, said he had been farming for a good many 

 years, and he had not given beer to his employes for a long time. His boys 

 and men found their own substitute. He should like beer kept oflF the ground 

 altogether. He had found that beer stopped work. He had also asked a good 

 many farmers about it, and had been rather surprised to find sometimes that 

 men whom he had thought would have given beer were against it, because 

 they found, as he had found, that, instead of stimulating, it stopped work ; 

 and that was Dr. Andrew Clarke's opinion about it. He says that however 

 pleasing alcohol may be to the taste it is not a helper of work. On the 

 contrary, it is not only not a helper of work, but it is a great hinderer of 

 work. He now always gave money to his labourers instead of beer. It was 

 best for the labourer and for the employer also. The men did their work 

 better without the drink, and, besides, when the money was paid they were 

 not tempted by their employers to drink. He thought that was one thing 

 which they should all be very careful to avoid — the placing of temptations in 

 the way of their men. — Speech at Chipping Norton Conference, January 23, 1882. 



W. M. Fostek-Melhak. Esq.. J. P., said he did not believe that alcohol 

 helped a man in his work in the harvest field. It stimulated him. he 

 admitted, but it afterwards left him more exhausted than what it found him. 

 In speaking of this, he might use a homely but a very true analogy, and that 

 was the poking of the fire. By poking a smouldering fire they produced heat, 

 just as alcohol acted upon the body, but unless they added fuel as well as 

 poked the fire, their fire would very soon go out. This was precisely the case 

 •with alcohol. It created temporary warmth and brightness, but it added no 

 new coal to the flame. Speaking of the labours of - the men in the field, he 

 said he could speak from experience that beer could be done without. He had 

 often had a hard day's work shooting and walking long distances, and he had 

 proved beyond a doubt that he could perform this task with far greater ease 

 on cold tea than he could on alcohol. He left it to others to say what the 

 drink that should be supplied to the labourers should be, but he maintained 

 that the supplying of beer should be no longer continued. They might give 

 the men the money, and let them decide for themselves what they should 

 dlrink. — Speech at Banbury Conference, November 22, 1881. 



