93 



YORK (NORTH BIDING). Temporary labour has declined pro- Temporary 

 bably to a greater extent than resident labour, owing to the 

 use of improved machinery. Potato-planting and lifting employ 

 a good many hands in some districts. 



YORK (WEST BIDING). Colonel Maude states that not quite 

 so many extra hands are hired for haytime, and though some 

 still command good, and even high, wages, there are far more 

 inexperienced ones, who are of little use. He adds: 

 " Formerly occasional labourers, both married and single, lived 

 in most of our villages, and made a good living by employ- 

 ment at certain periods on the land, such as in lambing time, 

 or for manure loading, haymaking, salving sheep in the 

 autumn, relaying hedges, building or repairing walls, quarry- 

 ing stones, draining, &c., but since the agricultural depression 

 became so acute neither farmers nor landowners have had 

 money to spare for extra work that cannot be done by the ordi- 

 nary farm staff, and so these occasional men have all gTadu- 

 ally drifted away until there is now great difficulty in getting 

 casual labour. Mr. Thompson considers that the increased 

 use of machinery has had a greater effect on temporary than 

 on resident labour. 



(b.) Counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 Derby and Stafford, 



CUMBERLAND. Mr. Watt does not think there has been very 

 much change in the numbers temporarily employed, except 

 where land has gone out of cultivation ; he observes that with 

 fewer " day " labourers in a district there is sometimes a 

 difficulty in getting all the hands required for such work as 

 hay and corn harvesting. Mr. Dobson writes : " When 

 a large area was under cereals a considerable number 

 of Irish labourers came for the corn harvest; now, 

 with a smaller area and the universal use of machinery, especi- 

 ally the self-binder, the usual farm staff is sufficient for the 

 work." Mr. Shanks remarks that most of the extra labour 

 required for thinning turnips, weeding, &c., is done by school 

 children during holidays. 



WESTMORLAND. Mr. Wakeficld considers that temporary 

 labourers have declined to a greater extent than permanent 

 labourers, but remarks that in either case the men were for the 

 most part resident in the neighbourhood. Mr. Punchard writes : 

 " There has of late years been a great decline in the number 

 of non-resident labourers who have sought work in the county 

 during hay-time and harvest. Formerly many Irishmen used 

 to turn up on these occasions, but now very few are seen ; so 

 much so that in one district self -binding reapers are now to be 

 found on almost every farm." 



LANCASHIRE. The use of machinery, such as self-binders, 

 potato-diggers, &c., is held by some to have caused a greater 



