TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 227 



condition of agricultural labour from that of unskilled to skilled labour, it is neces- 

 sary to extend elementary education, to promote technical education among 

 farmers and stewards, and to offer liberal remuneration for superior skill and care- 

 ful working in any of the operations of farm-labom- by the extension of payment 

 by piecework, and the greater adoption of machinery. 



3. That, with a \-iew to the greater efBciency of labourers, nothing is more im- 

 portant than that the labourer should receiye wages sufficient to maintain him in 

 a condition of healtli and vigour. 



4. That, in order to modify the excess of labourers in agriculture, it is requisite 

 to remove any obstacle, by the law of settlement or otherwise, to the free removal 

 of labourers from county to county, to promote emigration direct from the country 

 districts, to extend the cultivation ot land, and to increase the commerce and 

 manufacture of the coimtry. 



5. That the difi'erence existing in agricultm-al wages in different counties in the 

 kingdom, though greatly modified by the allowance in kind in some of them only, 

 mainly arises from a greater or less excess of labour, greater or less efficiency of 

 labour, different degrees of productiveness of the soil, difference in the capital 

 invested in agricultm-e, and the presence of other industiies. 



6. That, for the purpose of encouraging the investment of capital in agricultui'e, 

 it is important to extend the custom of granting long leases, to secure compensa- 

 tions for agricultural improvements, and to remove any inequalities in the bm-den 

 of taxation wherever they exist, and to extend as far as possible railway accom- 

 modation in agricultural districts. 



7. That, having regard to the advantages connected with the system of yearly 

 hiring, as the best mode of securing a continuity of labour in the same service, and 

 of promoting the welfare and contentment of the labom-ers, it is highly desirable 

 to extend the custom in all comities, provided it may be introduced without the 

 objectionable practice of hiring fairs and markets, substituting for them registry 

 offices in all the market towns. 



8. That, whilst paj^ment in kind is objectionable, as it is liable to gi'eat abuse, 

 produces much uncertainty, throwing the dangers of the market on the party less 

 able to bear them, it is still more objectionable where any part of the wages is 

 paid in the shape of cider or spirits. 



That the bondage system prevailing in Northimiberland operates most imjustly 

 to the labom-er, and acts most disadvantageously on the moral condition of women 

 in that district. 



10. That, upon'a comparison of the purely agiicultm-al with the purely indus- 

 trial counties, the agricultural exhibit a smaller rate of births, deaths, and mar- 

 riages, a better state of education among the adults, especially among women, 

 nearly an equal proportional number of children at school, less diamkenness and 

 less crime, but more pauperism and more illegitimacy than the industrial coimties. 



11. That the house accommodation in the rural districts iippears to demand 

 decided improvement, many of the old cottages being inconsistent with the moral 

 and physical well-being of their inhabitants. 



12. That it were much to be desired that to every cottage a small gai'den 

 should be attached ; and that, where that is impossible, an allotment of land con- 

 Teniently situated should be granted with it. 



13. That for the purpose of stimulating habits of self-reliance and independence 

 of character among the agricultural labourers, it is most important to restrict as 

 much as possible tlie operation of the Poor-Law, to promote the establishment of 

 savings' banks, insurance companies, and friendly societies under proper control, 

 and to limit to the utmost extent the licensing of public-houses, and the inordi- 

 nate consumption of spirits. 



14. That, tailing into account the large excess of agricultural labourers, and the 

 probability of a stiU fm-ther displacement of labour in proportion with the intro- 

 duction of machinery and skill, the need of regulating the effiux of such labourers 

 to the towns and manufacturing districts in relation to the power of commerce 

 and manufactiires to absoib them, the importance of procuring the contentment 

 of such agricultural population, and the universal desire of the most industrious 

 among them to own a plot of laud or to farm it on his own account, as well as 



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