92 THE MINORITY REPORT 



paid in towns, (2) the deficiency of satisfactory hous- 

 ing accommodation, and (3) the absence of reasonable 

 prospects of advancement in life ; as well as by 

 (4) the attraction of the Dominions to which we refer 

 later. ^ 



Mr. Prothero, in contrasting the conditions of the 

 agricultural labourer with those of the town worker, 

 wrote : "In money wages artisans are better paid ; 

 they have greater chances of rising to higher rates of 

 remuneration ; they have larger facilities for recrea- 

 tion and amusement ; so far as their homes are con- 

 cerned, they are less directly under the thumb of 

 their employer ; they belong to a less isolated and 

 more numerous class. Agricultural labourers beUeve 

 that there is life in the towns ; they know that in 

 the villages there is none, in which they share as a 

 right or which for them has any meaning." ^ 



Sir H. Rider Haggard has attributed the discon- 

 tent of the agricultural labourer to (1) our system of 

 education, and the restless spirit of the age ; (2) the 

 attractions of the towns, where there are high wages, 

 company and amusements, and also a chance of 

 rising ; (3) the want of prospects on the land, where 

 he is a wage-earner without outlook ; (4) bad cottage 

 accommodation. 



Mr. Seebohm Rowntree, who gave evidence before 

 us as to conditions of agricultural labour, attributed 

 the decline in the numbers of labourers to low wages, 



1 Report on the Decline in the Agricultural Population, 1881- 

 1906 (p. 16), and Report on Migration from Rural Districts, 1913 

 (p. 3). 



2 English Farming, pp. 409-16, 



