workers. One of the main causes of this state of affairs is to be found 

 in the rapid development of our industries. The higher wages which 

 the industries have been able to offer, the apparently freer conditions of 

 life for the industrial worker and the psychological attraction exer- 

 cised by the towns have drawn much of the labour-supply to the cities 

 and centres of industry. The difficult economic situation of our agri- 

 culture from the years around 1870 and until the outbreak of tHe war 

 has also led to the result that a large part of our best agricultural labour 

 has emigrated. 



Meanwhile, the need for hired labour is comparatively small in 

 Norwegian agriculture. As already stated, the majority of the farms 

 are so small that they are worked by the owner and his family without 

 any considerable amount of hired help. In addition to the before-men- 

 tioned cottars (husmenn), whose number is aboujt 17,000, there are 

 about 75,000 farm-servants (male and female) who have board and 

 lodging on the farms and a smaller number of day-labourers and job- 

 workers. 



The most of the workers live and eat with their employers and go to 

 work together with the latter. 



There thus exists only to a slight degree the difference in social 

 standing between farmers and farm-workers which we find in countries 

 where farming is on a larger scale. 



It must also be mentioned that the use of electricity has of late 

 years become widely extended also in the rural districts all over the 

 country thanks to Norway's great wealth in water-power. This ren- 

 ders possible a considerable extension of home-industry and thereby the 

 utilisation of unoccupied labour during the quieter periods of the year, 

 a circumstance which may of the greatest importance in securing for the 

 farm-workers steady employment during the whole year and thus bin- 

 ding them more closely to the soil by ensuring them better economic 

 conditions. 



Owing to the great extent of the country and its mountainous con- 

 formation the means of communication by road or railway are in many 

 districts far from satisfactory. As a set-off to this, the use of the tele- 

 phone has developed to an extent that is probably unparalleled in any 

 other country. In most of the rural districts the great majority of the 

 farmers and artisans, and in fact, even some of the common labourers, 

 have a telephone, which contributes considerably to facilitate the means 

 of communication. 



The rearing of live-stock is of great importance and constitutes an 

 important part of the operations throughout the whole country. In the 

 mountain districts and in the northern parts of the country cattle-raising 

 is the main factor in the working of the farms. 



