100 



PAELIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



[Sept. 1894. 



and servant should be amended to enable either party to obtain, 

 by a process of summary jurisdiction, damages for a wilful 

 breach of contract. 



A great improvement is said to have taken place in the 

 general condition of labourers in Ireland in recent years, 

 but in the majority of the districts of inquiry their condition is 

 reported to be far from satisfactory, and the sanitary condition 

 of the labourers and small holders' cottages is by universal 

 testimony deplorable. 



In conclusion, Mr. Little makes the following deduction from 

 the evidence at his disposal : — 



" 1. The number of those competing for employment in agri- 

 culture has everywhere decreased. 

 " 2. The decrease in the number of wage earners in agricul- 

 ture has been most marked in Ireland ; but the effect of 

 a decrease has been most felt in Scotland, where only 

 there is a general complaint of a scarcity of labourers. 

 " 3. In England a general contraction of employment in agri- 

 culture has proceeded concurrently with the decrease of 

 wage earners, and to some extent balanced the supply 

 and demand. 



" 4. The decrease in the number of labourers has improved 

 the chance of obtaining regular work by those who 

 desire it. 



" 5. The universal withdrawal of women from field work is 

 an evidence of .an improvement in the circumstances of 

 the labourers. 



" 6. The material condition of the labourers has everywhere 

 improved, though there are still very wide and striking 

 differences as to the amount of remuneration received 

 by them in different localities and parts of the United 

 Kingdom. 



" 7. This improvement, though in some measure due to an in- 

 crease of earnings, is, however, very largely the result of 

 the cheapening of commodities which are the necessaries 

 of life. 



" 8. The least satisfactory circumstance affecting the life of the 

 labourers is the condition of the dwellings in which a 

 considerable number of them are compelled to live." 



Royal Commission on Labour: The Agricultural Labourer, 

 Miscellaneous Memoranda, Abstracts, and Statistical 

 Tables, by Mr. William G. Little, Senior Assistant Agri- 

 cultural Commissioner, [C. — •6894-XXIV.] Price 4g. 



This Appendix to Mr. Little's Report on the Agricultural 

 Labourer is divided into three sections, the first of which deals 

 with England and Wales and occupies about half the present 

 Appendix, while the second refers to Scotland, and the last to 



