DEPRESSION 367 



stated that this had ceased to be the case.^ Another com- 

 mittee, the last for many years, sat in 1835 to consider the 

 distress ; but although prices were low the whole tenor of the 

 evidence established the improvement of farming, the exten- 

 sion of cultivation, and the increase of produce, and it was 

 noticed at this time that towns dependent on agriculture were 

 uniformly prosperous.^ 



On the whole, in spite of exaggeration from interested 

 motives, the distress for the twenty years after the battle of 

 Waterloo was real and deep ; twenty years of depression 

 succeeded the same period of false exaltation. The progress, 

 too, during that time was real, and made, as was remarked, 

 because of adversity. From this time agriculture slowly 

 revived. 



On one point both of the two last committees were agreed, 

 that the condition of the labourer was improved, and they 

 said he was better off than at any former period, for his 

 wages remained the same, while prices of necessaries had 

 fallen. That his wages went further is true, but they were 

 still miserably low, and he was often housed worse than the 

 animals on the farm. 'Wattle and dab' (or mud and straw) 

 formed the walls of his cottage, the floors were often of mud, 

 and all ages and both sexes frequently slept in one room. 

 A block of ten cottages were put up in the parish of Holmer ^ 



* Imports fell considerably at this date ; they were: 



1832 . . . 1,254,351 quarters. 1836 . . 861,156 quarters 



1833 . . . 1,166,457 „ 1837 . . 1,109,492 



1834 . . . 981,486 „ 1838 . . 1,923,400 „ 



1835 . . . 750,808 „ 



There were also considerable exports : 



1832 . . . 289,558 quarters. 1836 . . 256,978 quarters. 



1833 . . . 96,212 „ 1837 . . 308,420 „ 



1834 . . . I59>482 „ 1838 . . 158,621 , 



1835 . . . 134,076 „ 



M^Culloch, Commercial Dictionary (1847), p. 438. 

 ^ Porter, Progress of the Nation, p. 151. 

 ' See Duncumb, General View of Herefordshire (1805). 



