47 



CARNARVON. The increase in shepherds is an indication of 

 the change taking place throughout the county in the exten- 

 sion of sheep rearing. This extension is due to the fall in the 

 price of cereals and has lessened the demand for labour. At 

 the same time a preference is shown by the labourers for work 

 on railways, in quarries, &c., where better wages are paid. 

 There is a difficulty in getting suitable cottages at a rent that 

 a man getting 18s. per week can afford to pay. 



DENBIGH. The causes assigned for the decline are: 



(1) Lack of cottage accommodation and neglect of existing 

 cottages. 



(2) Conversion of arable land to pasture, and increase of 

 stock rearing. 



(3) Poorer land on hillsides going out of cultivation. 



(4) More extensive use of machinery. 



(5) The lack of small holdings. 



(6) The game laws. 



Mr. John Roberts says : " The insecurity of tenure prevents 

 any tenant employing his capital in developing his farm, thus 

 diminishing the need of labour. Many examples of this have 

 happened in recent years." 



GLAMORGAN. Mr. Forrest considers that the main cause of 

 the decline is dissatisfaction with rural conditions as compared 

 with the attractions of town life and its apparent increase in 

 wages. He thinks that education in village schools is faulty 

 in that so little instruction is given in the way of technical 

 agricultural and allied subjects. The low price of produce, 

 also, has led to the laying down of a large area of permanent 

 pasture, which requires less labour. The increased cost of labour 

 compels many farmers to leave work that they ought to do, 

 such as repairing, laying, and trimming hedges, banking, &c. ; 

 the result in many cases being an increasingly heavy expen- 

 diture on the part of the landlord. The increase of machinery 

 has enabled many large farmers to get on with less labour, 

 and even the provision of up-to-date buildings tends to lessen 

 the amount of labour required to work a farm. It is also 

 observed that able men can earn 6s. to 7s. per day at the 

 collieries a wage which the farmer is, of course, unable to pay. 



MERIONETH. Mr. Wynne attributes the diminution in 

 labourers to the social attractions of the towns, the shorter 

 hours of employment, and the apparently higher wages. 



MONTGOMERY. The decrease in farmers and graziers may be 

 partly accounted for by the displacement of occupiers from a 

 considerable area drawn upon by the Liverpool Corporation for 

 the purpose of water supply; partly also it is due to the 

 merging together of holdings, but it is stated that little of 

 Jias taken place recently. 



