JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
THE FARM LABOURERS OF ENGLAND 
AND WALES. 
Introduction. 
The evidence as to the condition of the agricultural labourers 
collected by the Royal Commission on Labour in 1882 and 1883 
is the most complete ever published. Eleven Assistant Com- 
missioners were appointed to visit different parts of the King- 
dom, with a Senior Assistant Commissioner, Mr. W. C. Little, 
to superintend their arrangements, but not to travel. Most of 
them were at work for about twelve months, and the seven who 
were engaged chiefly in England and Wales visited all the 
English counties except Westmoreland, Durham, Rutland, and 
Middlesex, and all the Welsh counties except Cardigan and 
Flint. The heads of inquiry, under some of which several sub- 
heads were ranged, were the supply of labour, the conditions of 
engagement, wages and earnings, cottage accommodation, 
gai'dens and allotments, benefit societies, trade unions, general 
relations of employer and employed, and the general condition 
of the agricultural labourer. The results have been published 
in seven bulky volumes as far as England and Wales are con- 
cerned, and to these I confine my attention upon the present 
occasion, in order to compress my analysis of the evidence 
within the limits of an article of ordinary length. For the 
same reason, while subdividing my remarks under the several 
heads of inquiry, I shall deal briefly with benefit societies, trade 
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