42 



Causes of increasing objection on account of the long hours and the small 

 clme - opportunities for leisure. Employment in the towns, mines, 

 and factories is better paid and, though the cost of living may 

 be higher, town life presents many attractions in comparison 

 with the rural districts. Good cottages are wanted, but the 

 stringency of the byelaws tends to prevent more being built. 

 Better openings for labour exist in Canada, the United 

 States, and elsewhere, and many young men have been induced 

 to emigrate by friends who have done well there in mining and 

 farming. 



DIVISION IY. 



(a.) Counties of Northumberland, Durham, York (North Riding) 

 and York (West Riding). 



NORTHUMBERLAND. Owing to the low price of corn tillage 

 land has been laid to grass, and consequently less labour is re- 

 quired. Mr. Nichol writes : " Several farms in this neighbour- 

 hood which used to keep seven or eight pairs of horses working 

 now have none, and instead of upwards of twenty hands now em- 

 ploy a couple of men." At the same time wages have increased so 

 that farmers cannot afford to employ the same amount of labour 

 as formerly. Mr. Nichol adds that in his case wages have 

 increased 20 per cent, in the last fifteen years. More and better 

 machinery is now used. Again, the present system of education 

 does not fit the rural population for work as farm labourers, 

 who are attracted to urban districts by the prospect of higher 

 wages and other advantages. The absorption of land for build- 

 ing also displaces agriculture; this process, it is stated, is 

 going on in the whole of the Tyne Valley west of Newcastle 

 and east of Hexham. 



DURHAM. There is a lessened demand for labour owing to 

 the laying of land to grass, the increased use of machinery, and 

 the general endeavour to economise in view of the low price 

 of produce and the high rate of wages. Many men now taking 

 farms have large families and are able to do without hired 

 labour. On other farms, where eight or ten men used to be 

 kept, only a shepherd and perhaps a boy are now employed. 

 Mr. Kent writes : " Less time is spent in tilling and cleaning 1 

 the land, and a small dressing of artificial manure takes the 

 place of a more thorough cultivation and is found cheaper than 

 a heavy labour bill." In some districts there is a want of good 

 houses. The character of the elementary education unfits boys 

 for work on the land ; they are attracted to the towns, iron works, 

 and coal mines, thinking to improve their conditions of life ; 

 the facility with which this better-paid employment can be 

 obtained keeps agricultural wages in Durham at a very high 

 level. 



YORK (NORTH RIDING). Owing to smallness of profits and, 

 amongst other things, the burden of heavy rating, farmers have 



