35 



work and very seldom requires or employs extra labour. Boys Causes of 

 are not encouraged at school to take an interest in agriculture. Decline. 

 Education makes them ambitious, and on leaving they try for 

 places in towns in preference to farm work. 



SURREY. The decline in agricultural labourers is due to the 

 conversion of arable to grass land. Mr. Whitley writes : " In 

 my opinion this is being overdone, as so much hay is now made 

 that it is no longer profitable ; efficient men are difficult to get 

 at hay time, the available extra labour being of a low order. 

 The right policy would appear to be to keep farms in such a 

 state that only a slight increase in labour would be required 

 in hay time ; the horse and manual labour then required could 

 be employed in arable cultivation at other times. The difficulty 

 of casual labour is forcing farmers to take this view, and must 

 help to stop the continual sowing-down process." 



SUSSEX. Owing to depression a great deal of arable land 

 has been laid to grass ; some of the stiff clay land and land in 

 out-of-the-way parts or on the hills has been allowed to go out 

 of cultivation, and is used for sporting purposes or as the 

 roughest pasture, employing practically no labour; farmers 

 have been compelled to cut down expenses and have commenced 

 with the heaviest item the labour bill. Many small farms 

 are now occupied by men who do most of the work themselves. 

 Contributory causes of a different nature noticed are The rais- 

 ing of the school-age limit to 14 years and the unsuitable 

 character of the education afforded, the attraction of the towns, 

 the better wages of railway or industrial 'occupations, and the 

 dulness of rural life. Objection is taken to Sunday labour, and 

 there is a general desire for self -improvement. On this point 

 Mr. Haviland writes : " Our labourers, during their working 

 years, are, generally speaking, well-paid and well-housed, and 

 their standard of living compares very well with that of a 

 labourer in any other trade, but there is little or no chance of 

 advancement. As a rule all labourers, good, bad, or indifferent, 

 are paid much the same daily wage, and an agricultural labour- 

 er's life leads to nothing more remunerative." In several 

 districts a lack of suitable cottages is noted. Mr. Grant writes : 

 " Cottages of any kind are scarce and dear." Mr. Chandler 

 writes : " In Wivelsfield, a purely agricultural district, the 

 farm labourer cannot get a cottage under 4,9. Qd. per week." 

 Mr. Brand states that new cottages cost 25 per cent, more than 

 they did forty years ago. 



The increase in bailiffs and foremen is thought to be partly 

 due to farms remaining unlet, and partly to the fact that Sussex 

 is becoming increasingly a residential district, many people 

 keeping small estates of 100 or 200 acres for pleasure. 



BERKSHIRE. The low price of corn has caused land to be laid 

 to grass, and less labour is required. Advancing wages have 

 compelled farmers to rely more on machinery. The education 



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