SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



Sussex Farmers' Club stated it as his opinion that the condition of the labourer 

 was on the whole improved, but as wages had risen the demand for allot- 

 ments had decreased ; he considered that small holdings were suitable for 

 small shopkeepers but not for labourers, whose position in the eyes of the 

 farmer was apt to be prejudiced by the fact that he held land of his own, to 

 which he would be naturally expected to devote his first attention ! The 

 relations between landlord and tenant were generally friendly, and rents, in 

 his experience, were pretty regularly paid, though farms were frequently in 

 a disgraceful condition when they fell vacant. Foreign competition was 

 pressing hard upon butchers and market gardeners, and better means of 

 distribution were much needed for all kinds of produce except poultry, 

 which was bought up on the farms and distributed by ' higglers.' He 

 considered the charge made by the County Council for technical instruction 

 prevented its being much sought after by young men, who could hardly afford 

 to pay for that as well as for their board and lodging; dairy schools, however, 

 he stated were popular. 886 



As further evidence of the actual position of the Sussex labourer at the 

 present day the report of the commissioners on agricultural wages issued in 

 1900 may be cited. The average total earnings of the agricultural labourer 

 throughout the kingdom in 1898 amounted to i6s. iod., while the average 

 in Sussex for that year was ijs. lod. ; a large part of this sum was con- 

 tributed by piece-work, the average cash wage not amounting to more than 

 14-r. 2</., and allowances in kind being, comparatively speaking, small and 

 infrequent. The most extensive piece-work was, of course, found in the 

 hop-growing districts of East Sussex, but the harvesting work was carried 

 out upon this system throughout the county, while carters received journey- 

 money, shepherds lamb-money, and in some instances journey-money and 

 shearing-money, and in certain districts free cottages and gardens were pro- 

 vided for some of the men, especially the shepherds, and here and there 

 potato ground was given or fuel found and carted, while occasionally milk 

 or skim-milk was provided. The highest wages were earned by shepherds 

 and men in charge of horses and cattle their total estimated weekly earnings 

 averaging about 1 8j. %d. or i gs. There was no very material variation in 

 the general rate of wages between the year 1894 and January, iSgg, 336 but 

 the average was considerably higher than that quoted in the Poor Law 

 Commissioners' return for 1834. 



A summary of the evidence afforded by this long series of reports would 

 seem to show that the condition of the Sussex labourer has improved con- 

 siderably during the past sixty years. But perhaps a yet more important 

 feature is their indication of a reasonable prospect of successful small holdings, 

 and of the adaptation of the district for the development of dairy and poultry 

 farms evidence which would seem to point to Sussex as one of the counties 

 where the solution of existing social problems might most easily be found, 

 and where education in scientific farming might most easily be repaid. 



135 Accts. and Papers, 1894, xvi (i) ; cf. 1897, xv, for summary of agricultural conditions in the county. 

 156 Ibid. 1900, Ixxxii. 



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