[912.] Agricultural Labour in December. 



8; 9 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries have been furnished by the 

 Board of Trade with the following report, based on returns from 

 correspondents in various districts, on the de- 

 Agricultural Labour mand for agricultural labour in November : — 

 in England Labourers outside the regular farm staff 



during" December. lost a good deal of time during December on 

 account of wet weather. The demand for 

 such men was also affected by the forward state of farm work and by 

 seasonal slackness, and the supply was consequently in excess of 

 requirements in many districts. Some scarcity of men for permanent 

 situations was reported in several parts of the Southern and South- 

 western Counties. 



Northern Counties. — Rain caused some loss of time to extra 

 labourers in most districts. There was a limited demand for such 

 men for threshing, turnip pulling, manure carting, hedging, draining, 

 &c. The supply of men was reported as more than equal to the 

 demand in a number of Rural Districts, including those of Longtown 

 (Cumberland), West Ward (Westmorland), and Bridlington, Great 

 Ouseburn, Howden, Pickering, Pocklington, and Selby (Yorkshire). 



Midland Counties. — Extra men were chiefly required for such work 

 as threshing, carting manure, storing roots, and hedging. The de- 

 mand, however, was generally only moderate, partly on account of the 

 forward state of farm work, and in nearly all the counties in this group 

 a surplus of extra men was reported in one or more Rural Districts, 

 the counties in which a surplus appeared to be most general being 

 Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Oxfordshire. Loss of time on account 

 of rain was reported in most districts, particularly in the case of 

 threshers. 



Eastern Counties. — The partial failure of the root crops was again 

 accountable for a reduced demand for extra labourers, particularly in 

 Norfolk and Suffolk, where a surplus of men was reported in a number 

 of districts ; some surplus was also reported in the Chesterton (Cam- 

 bridgeshire), Bourne (Lincolnshire), and Braintree (Essex) Rural Dis- 

 tricts. Any considerable loss of time through rain was not general, 

 though reported in some districts, particularly in Suffolk and Essex. 



Southern and South-Western Counties. — Outdoor work was consider- 

 ably affected by rain in all these counties during December, and extra 

 men were generally in irregular employment in consequence. A certain 

 amount of work was provided for such men at threshing, carting 

 manure, hedging, and ditching, draining, and on the root 

 crops, but the demand, apart from the effect of wet weather, was 

 generally only moderate, and a surplus of men was reported in several 

 districts in Surrey, Hampslrre, and Wiltshire, and also in the Faver- 

 sham and Hollingbourne (Kent), Chailey (Sussex), and Wareham and 

 Purbeck (Dorset) Rural Districts. Men for hedging and ditching were 

 wanted in the Hereford Rural District, and there was some scarcity 

 of men for permanent situations in the Godstone (Surrey), Chailey 

 and Petworth (Sussex), Highworth and Swindon (Wiltshire), and 

 Dursley, Northleach, Stow-on-the-Wold, and Thornbury (Gloucester- 

 shire), and West Penwith (Cornwall) Rural Districts. 



