I 



47 



the realization of the above statements, with the happy effects 

 of constant work at adequate wages. 



They will also discover that if flax had been cultivated to 

 the extent, and in accordance with the plans I recommended, 

 every parish in the county might, at the present time, have 

 been rendered as free from rates as Trimingham ; where one 

 quarter's poor rate only, of the past three, at 3d. in the pound, 

 has been required for the support of the infirm, and for Union 

 charges : all hands being employed in dressing flax that would 

 otherwise have been maintained in idleness. As a proof, 

 Mr. Brown, who has greatly contributed towards the elucida- 

 tion of this subject, left his farm at Michaelmas, engaged 

 another at Rackheath, and took his flax with him. In conse- 

 quence, several young persons were thrown out of employment; 

 some of whom were lately obliged to take refiuge in the work- 

 house, where they must still have remained had I not received 

 them into my flax establishment. 



To remove all prejudice would be to alter the construction 

 of human nature : a thing impossible ! so innumerable are the 

 secret springs of opposition. But, justice to the poor, whose 

 cause I advocate, and for whose sake the Norfolk Flax Society 

 was formed, demands the strictest investigation. I would 

 therefore just observe, that the system of preparing flax for 

 market is reduced to so great a certainty upon my premises, 

 that I am now able to afford assistance to any part of the 

 kingdom ; and that, under the instruction of Belgians from the 

 celebrated Courtrai district, young men, women, and children 

 have become expert flax-dressers, earning from 3^-. 6d. to lOs. 

 per week. For instance, the wages of Thomas Siely, aged 13, 

 exceed, upon the average, 6s. a week. 



In conclusion, allow me to subjoin the copy of a letter, ad- 

 dressed to a nobleman on another part of my advocacy, of the 

 utmost importance to the agricultural interests of the country; 

 and to say that I this week sold seven bullocks, fattened ac- 

 cording to the system recommended, from the resources of my 

 own farm, that paid 771. for less than six months' keeping. 



My Lord, — The people in this neighbourhood were once as 

 stubborn and as stiff-necked as those who inspect your bullocks. 



