770 = 504 
Tlie Agricultural Labourer. 
Comparison of 
wages in 1796 
and 1850, 
and in 1850 
and 1870. 
Reasons for 
slow advance. 
to another ; education spreads and tends to equalise the rate 
wages ; and although I cannot paint a general picture, and s 
" Ex uno disce omnes" I can at least point to some gene: 
features of identity, whilst I ask that the differences which I ha 
thus endeavoured to indicate may be borne in mind. 
.Owing, then, to these causes — to the rapid increase of poy 
lation, to the lack of education in the rural districts, and to t 
subordinate position forced upon the labourer by the unw 
administration of the Poor Laws — the growth of the labou' 
in the south, in intelligence, in industry, and in worki 
capacity, has hitherto been painfully slow. By consequen 
the growth of his wages has been slow also. In 1796 t 
common weekly wages of a Dorsetshire labourer were quot 
by an eminent authority * at 8s. Fifty years later, Mr. Cai: 
in an inquiry undertaken by him for the ' Times ' newspapi 
in consequence of the distress in agricultural districts, fou 
exactly the same rate prevailing. So also in Devonshire, wh( 
7s. were paid in 1796, only 8s. were paid in 1850. In Wi 
shire the wages paid in 1796 had even declined, and the r; 
of 8s. paid in the former year was reduced to 6s. in 1850. 
the north, on the other hand, in the same period, wages b 
advanced about 60 per cent. ; and even with this increase t 
northern farmer was holding his own against his competitor 
the south. 
To advance a step farther : — The twenty years which follow 
Mr. Caird's inquiry, in 1850, were distinguished beyond a 
similar period in the history of the country by the growth 
wealth and of manufactures. The railway system, which n 
covers the whole kingdom as with a network, was, at i ■ 
end of that period, all but complete. The principles of Fr 
trade had been asserted and established. It will therefore 
interesting to see how far the labourer had benefited in act 
wages by this vast extension of commerce. In Dorsetshire ; 
had now got 10s. a week ; in Devonshire about the sar . 
What, however, had been the effect in Scotland ? Here he > i 
in receipt of about double this amount, 18s. being a comn i 
rate, and 20s. being paid in very many districts ! 
It is impossible to account for the slowness of the increase i 
the south, except on the ground of superabundance and ir • 
riority of labour. It is certain that in the same time agricult ; 
had not stood still. On the contrary, it was a period of gi t 
growth and development. The slow advance in the wages f 
* Sir Francis Morton E.len, in his ' State of tho Poor,' 3 vols. 4to., Lon I 
1797. I may observe that Dorsetshire may be taken as a typical county for 3 
low-waged southern districts of the kingdom. 
