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Causes of given is unsuitable as a preparation for work on the land, and 

 Decline. an occupation is sought for in the towns, where there is more 

 amusement and excitement. 



HAMPSHIRE. Large tracts have been laid to grass, employ- 

 ing but little labour. Mr. Perkins refers to the following 

 among other causes of the decline : The attraction of city life, 

 the continuous and increasing demand of urban industries, 

 and the better wages and other enjoyments offered ; the want 

 of decent cottages. The rural homes, he remarks, are utterly 

 insufficient in number and inefficient in character; 

 until a cottage collapses or is condemned it is never 

 empty. Young men and women wait until the chance of 

 a vacant cottage occurs before getting married. Complaints 

 about want of repair or insufficient accommodation seldom 

 reach the owner. Mr. Perkins thinks that if the number of 

 cottages in rural Hampshire were increased by 20 per cent, 

 during the next ten years there would scarcely be one vacant. 

 At least half require structural alterations and additions, and 

 5 per cent, ought to be condemned as unfit for habitation. The 

 difficulty is aggravated by the letting of cottages to " week- 

 enders," or to people who come to reside in the country, and 

 are willing to pay a good deal more than the labourer can 

 afford. A further demand is created by the servants of large 

 householders who come to reside in the country. The system 

 of education attempts too much and arouses ambitions which 

 only townward migration seems to satisfy. Country life is com- 

 plained of as dull and wanting in attractions and amusements. 



(b.) Counties of Nottingham, Leicester, Rutland, Northampton, 

 Buckingham, Oxford and Warwick. 



NOTTINGHAM.- Owing <o the low price of wheat a lot of the 

 strong clay land has betn laid to grass; on good loams and 

 easily worked corn lands there is still a good demand for labour. 

 Farmers have been compelled, through lack of means, to cut 

 down expenses to the lowest point. Mr. Walker writes: 

 " Nothing like the same amount of labour is expended in 

 keeping up the hedges, gates and fences, and the general good 

 appearance of the farms, neither is the same amount of labour 

 put into the land as formerly." Town life offers the labourer 

 greater freedom and many attractions. The wages of industrial 

 occupations are higher than farmers can afford to pay, though 

 the difference is more apparent than real when the country 

 labourer's house, garden, &c., are taken into account. Edu- 

 cation is making the rising generation feel that they are 

 too good for farm work and more fitted for the towns; they 

 evince a dislike to engage themselves as yearly farm servants. 

 Mr. Smith, however, states that the Notts Education Com- 

 mittee have given instructions for holidays to be arranged at 

 convenient times so that boys can find agricultural employ- 

 ment such as turnip singling and potato picking; this, he 

 thinks, will accustom them to work on the land. 



