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This, then, was the origin of the " Statutes " or hiring 

 fairs, to which all servants repaired annually to be 

 engaged for the ensuing year, and the party hired received 

 a retainer, or hiring fee. This is still done in the en- 

 listment of soldiers, the summoning of witnesses, and in 

 securing the services of council, and did very well when 

 the servants to be hired were few ; but after the labour 

 laws were amended and the statutes referred to were 

 repealed, then servants were no longer compelled to 

 remain in their own parish, but moved from place to 

 place ; and it became a common thing for unprincipled 

 servants to take hiring fees from different masters and get 

 drunk with the good conduct money Consequently 

 these " mops," " fairs," and " statutes " became such 

 nuisances, that in many places they have been entirely 

 abolished, and those who wish to find good servants 

 never think of going to such places for them. 



But the " statutes " being abolished the question 

 comes where are employers to find servants to suit them, 

 and servants employers requiring the labour they have to 

 dispose of ? This is one of the difficulties that naturally 

 results during a transition state. The old institution 

 has been swept away, but where is the new and better 

 one to be found ? Well, the author, seeing the dilemma 

 in which both masters and servants have been placed by 

 the altered circumstances of the times, has— and he 

 believes successfully — found the desideratum so anxiously 

 desired and so much needed by the public, and that is a 

 Free Registry, where servants can record their wants 

 and employers their requirements, and both can be ac- 

 commodated without trouble or expense. To illustrate 

 the benefits of a Free Registry to both employers and 

 employes, let us suppose a gentleman wants a groom. 

 Well, he does not know all the localities where grooms 



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