102 Rents ^ Wages, and Profits in Agrictdture 



early part of the nineteenth century, and 

 the evils led to the well-known Amendment 

 Act of 1834. Before this reform, the wages 

 of agricultural labour, except in some of 

 the Northern counties, were paid partially 

 or wholly out of the poor-rates. We are 

 told in the report of the Select Committee 

 on labourers' wages in 1824, that able- 

 bodied labourers were sent round to the 

 farmers, and received a part, and in some 

 cases, the whole of their subsistence, from 

 the parish whilst working on the land of 

 individuals. People who had no need of 

 farm labour were obliged to contribute to 

 the payment of work done for others. The 

 idea was to provide what we should now 

 call a living wage, and the unit taken was 

 the family in the natural sense, relief being 

 given according to the number of children, 

 whether legitimate or not. Very often the 

 farmers agreed to pay low rates of wages 



