31 



Dr. W. Collier, as a medical man, addressed the meeting on the same 

 subject, and said he objected to giving men beer in the harvest field, because 

 it injured the labourer, injured his work, and injured his pocket. As a worker 

 in a large provincial hospital, he had seen the diseases produced by intem- 

 perance, and in many cases he had traced it to the drinking in the harvest 

 lields. He advocated the substitution of tea or oatmeal fluid for beer, and said 

 that a good cottage and garden would act as powerful counter attractions to 

 the public house. — Speech at Banbury Conference, Nov. 22, 1881, 



Mr. B. Hobbis, as a practical farmer, said he was not going to say intem- 

 perance was the cause of all the agricultural distress, but he believed it was an 

 important element in their many troubles. He did not believe the farmers 

 would suffer very much by the discontinuance of barley for malting purposes, 

 but if the current of drunkenness was stopped, they would be very great 

 gainers by the reduction of local taxation. He condemned what he called 

 the senseless practice of treating over bargains. He urged upon his brother 

 farmers to discontinue the practice of giving beer or cider to their men in the 

 harvest field, because it was to a great extent, the cause of much drunkenness 

 among their rural population. — Speech at Faringdon Conference, December 

 12, 1881. 



Mr. A. Blake (estate steward to A. Brassey, Esq., of Heythrop Park), said 

 on the estate of A, Brassey, Esq., he had for the last seven years given the 

 men extra money in the place of beer, and he found it work better in every 

 respect. The men were better satisfied, they did more work, and did that work 

 better than when they took the stimulants to them in the field. He found that 

 the men preferred to have the money instead of the beer, and the amount 

 which he allowed them in lieu of beer was tenpence a-day. He said that 

 threshing was a dusty job, and he allowed 4d. a.day to each man. He had 

 great pleasure in seconding the resolution, '"that this conference considers that 

 it is desirable that labourers working in the hay and harvest field should be 

 paid in money instead of beer." The resolution was carried unanimously. — 

 Speech at Chipping Norton Conference, Jan, 25, 1882. 



Bearwood Farm, Wokingham, 



80th January, 1882. 



Dear Sir, — I have farmed for several seasons past about 2,500 acres of land 

 for Mr. John Walter, M.T., and others, and my system is money and no beer, 

 not merely in hay and harvest time, but all through the year, for work for 

 which beer was formerly allowed. I do not provide any tea or other drinks 

 as a substitute, thinking it better (in so large a business at any rate) to treat 

 the matter on purely commercial grounds, giving increased pay for extra work 

 rendered, and leaving the men to use their own judgment as to the nature and 

 quantity of their drink, the same way as they do as to food. If I attempted 

 to alter ihe system from money back to beer, as formerly, my labourers would 

 object to a man. Under the money plan our work is done better, cheaper, and 

 far pleasanter ; many of the men are abstainers, and those who are not drink 

 only with their meals, as a rule. The tenant farmers are adopting the money 

 system, and 1 have never known one who did wish to change. They only 

 wonder how on earth they could have kept up the beer system so long. The 

 first season always suffices to thoroughly recommend the plan of money in 

 lieu of beer to both master and man. Our largest tenant on the estate farms 

 in all 1,400 acres of arable land, and, having followed my plan, now some 

 years, would endorse every word I have stated in favour of it. 



I beg to remain, 



Yours very faithfully, 



H. SIMMONS. 



Mr. John Abbey. Steward to John Walter, Esq., M.P. 



