76 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



they snared in the field, began to taste mutton and beef sent 

 frozen to England from the ends of the world. 



It is an ironical reflection on civilisation that the English 

 labourer who fed the bullock in the yard which he over- 

 looked from his cottage ; and folded the sheep on the roots 

 under his eye, had to wait until frozen meat came to him 

 from the Antipodes or the ranches of America before 

 butcher's meat became part of his diet, even once a week. 

 This is no exaggeration, for men to-day have told me that 

 the frozen meat which arrived in this country in the late 'eigh- 

 ties was the first time they had tasted mutton in their lives. 



In spite of the reductions in wages, made in many areas, 

 especially in the southern counties, the labourer received 

 higher cash wages at this period than he did before the birili 

 of Arch's Union. Yet he suffered more than either of the 

 other two classes who experienced greater financial losses, for 

 the reduction of a shilling or two in wages, when these are 

 not at a figure sufficient to maintain physical efficiency, 

 means suffering in a very real sense. 



More and more it became the custom for farmers to reduce 

 the labourers' perquisites and to be more ruthless in turning 

 men off on wet days. The official figures then must be u--ed 

 with some caution. 1 



