48 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



given do not relate exclusively to rural districts, as they 

 occur in districts largely agricultural, it may be assumed 

 that they chiefly relate to the dwellings of agricultural 

 labourers, because it is in the villages and not the towns 

 from which the population have chiefly retired. This 

 will be shown incidentally by the following paragraph 

 from the special report of the Select Committee, in 1906, 

 on the Housing of the Working Classes Amendment 

 Bill, who say : 



" Apart from the fact that an ill-repaired cottage is a 

 contributory cause of the migration to the towns by the 

 young and more intelligent element in the rural population, 

 the Committee have had ample evidence to show that 

 migration is also largely due to the monotonous existence 

 and lack of prospect held out to the younger generation 

 under the present system. The contrast between life in 

 the country and in the town is so manifest, that it is not to 

 be wondered at that large numbers every year migrate to 

 the latter. It is aggravating the condition of the towns 

 as regards overcrowding and unemployment, and it is 

 paralysing the prosperity of the country districts by depriving 

 them of the necessary population. Large sums of public 

 money are being spent to alleviate the evils of overcrowding 

 and of a congested labour market in the towns, whilst the 

 country districts are spending an ever-increasing amount 

 in rates to turn out a better-educated population, the best 

 of whom migrate in large numbers to the towns and deprive 

 the country ratepayer of the results of his local expenditure. 

 The migration can only be checked by reforms in laws 

 having for their object the renting or acquiring of land in 

 sufficient dimensions to afford a proper career to those who 

 remain in the country. If only the opportunity- or the 

 hope of opportunity were presented to the agricultural 

 labourer that by the exercise of skill and energy he could 

 improve his position by becoming a holder of land, the 

 exodus from the country might be materially checked." 



These reliable statements prove conclusively, we 

 think, that the lessening of overcrowding, shown by the 

 census returns quoted, is in the rural districts, as the 

 urban places have really, during the operation of the 

 causes alluded to, become more overcrowded. 



