160 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



in Scotland was 102,075. By 1891 that number had 

 fallen to 95,470, a drop, in the ten years, of 6605. By 

 1901 the number was only 83,441, showing a drop of 

 12,029, or nearly double the dimension of the fall for 

 the previous decade. 



In Ireland the same classes of labourers show a much 

 more serious decline than in Scotland. In 1881 the 

 numbers were 300,091. By 1891 they had fallen to 

 258,042 a decline of 42,049, considerably more than 

 double, pro rata, the Scottish decline. By 1901 the 

 numbers had fallen to 217,652, another drop of 40,390. 

 It may fairly be assumed that the more distressful 

 conditions of Irish labourers the lowest paid in the 

 United Kingdom has been answerable for the much 

 larger proportionate decline. 



It is important to note that the decline mentioned as 

 having taken place in the three divisions of the United 

 Kingdom England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland 

 only refers to male labourers ; but the decline in female 

 labour also has been most striking in England and 

 Wales, where the numbers fell from 143,475 in 1851 to 

 90,525 in 1861, to 58,656 in 1871, to 40,346 in 1881, to 

 24,150 in 1891 ; and then in the succeeding decade the 

 drop was the startling one of more than 50 per cent. 

 the number running down in 1901 to 11,963. The 

 report is silent as to whether there has been a decline 

 in the number of female labourers in Scotland and 

 Ireland. It is probable that there has been, but it may 

 not have been so serious as in England and Wales. In 

 any case, it is rather an astonishing fact that the 

 number of "female agriculturists" in Ireland in 1901, 

 mainly coming under the heading of farmer or grazier, 

 was no less than 70,534. 



