6 ?? 
The Farm Labourers of England and Wales. 
in the Stratford union of Warwickshire, the birthplace of the 
National Agricultural Labourers’ Union, Mr. Richards says, 
only a few men continue to subscribe to it. 
Upon the important question of the relations between em- 
ployers and employed, the Assistant Commissioners have arrived 
at various conclusions with reference to the districts visited. 
Lack of space prevents me from quoting them, and I can 
only state that the prevailing verdict is that the relations are 
generally friendly, though less cordial than they used to be. 
In all the districts except North Wales the general condition 
of the agricultural labourer is described as better than it used to 
be, and in many as better than ever it was before ; and in the 
excepted district it is only said that perhaps he was slightly 
better off about 1879. This general verdict may be taken as 
applying to the year 1892, and in some districts it might now 
be modified by the reduction in wages which has since taken 
place. It is a mistake, however, in my opinion, to conclude 
that the labourers have not suffered from agricultural depres- 
sion. Until recently, it is true, their nominal weekly wages 
have hardly anywhere declined, while they have actually advanced 
in some parts of the country since the depression set in. It is 
also true that the low price of nearly everything the labourer 
has to buy, which has been incidental to the general depression of 
agriculture and trade, has been the chief cause of his compara- 
tive prosperity. But it is to be borne in mind that the labourers 
have only staved off a considerable drop in wages by making 
themselves scarce by means of migration ; also that their extra 
earnings at piecework and in harvest, in many districts, have 
been greatly reduced by the conversion of arable land to pasture. 
Before concluding that they have not suffered from agricultural 
depression, it is necessary to imagine what their condition would 
have been if agriculture had remained prosperous. Migration 
would have been checked to a considerable extent, no doubt ; 
but it would have been checked only by an advance of wages 
and other advantages. Bread and meat would have been less 
cheap, but need not have been dear ; and the prosperity of 
agriculture would not necessarily have raised the prices of many 
of the other requirements of the men and their families. Enter- 
prise in farming and in estate improvements would have 
increased, instead of necessarily diminishing, and the establish- 
ments of country gentlemen, now closed in too many instances, 
would have been kept up in full efficiency, giving much lucra- 
tive employment to workmen. 
For my own part I cannot doubt that agricultural prosperity 
would have rendered the condition of the labourers much better 
