By this we can see that it is not in three counties alone, as appeared at the first glance, that the agricultural population has declined. Indeed, on examining more closely still a greater alteration in the proportion will be discovered. We shall find that the same division of the country has not exactly been followed at the last Census as in previous years. If we rectify this, and re-arrange the divisions upon the basis followed in 1861, we shall find that in three of the sixteen divisions in which the numbers appear to be larger, the counties of Northampton, Bedford, and Wilts, the increase in the rural portion is so slight that their position is practically unchanged; while in Suffolk, where the proportion of the rural population appears to be larger, if the basis of 1861 is employed, it is really less. Taking the whole together, it may be said that throughout fourfifths of England and Wales the rural population has declined during the last ten years, and, of course, even to a higher degree as compared with twenty or thirty years ago. As the inhabitants of England and Wales have rapidly increased in number during these periods, this depopulation of the rural districts has been accompanied by a considerably larger proportionate increase in the towns.

We will consider, first of all, the agricultural districts. Take the case of Surrey. In the so-called 'extra metropolitan' portion, the parishes and hamlets really beyond the influence of London, those which are not, in fact, suburbs of the metropolis, will be found, in many instances, to have scarcely received any augmentation of their population. In some cases the numbers are actually less; where there is an increase, • additional railway communication with London' supplies the cause. In Bedfordshire, out of 154 parishes, including the towns in the county, the population in 70 parishes is less than in 1861, and exactly the same in four more. Το go further into details on this point would be out of place here. But enough has been said to make it clear that since there has been a decline in the population of a great part of the rural districts, we must expect to find a diminution in the number of agricultural labourers in England. At any period a reduction in the ranks of a class so important to the State would be a matter deserving of the most serious consideration. Adding together the numbers of the men described as agricultural labourers, shepherds, and farm servants, we find that the aggregate of men following these industries dropped from being more than 1,100,000, in 1851, to being but little over 900,000 in 1871. Some doubts are thrown on the exact accuracy of this statement by the writers of the Report, who remark, that notwithstanding the explicit instruc

tions on the subject to householders and enumerators, it is not improbable that many agricultural labourers returned themselves simply as labourers,' and so, consequently, have swelled the ranks of the general labourers, who are returned separately. Such mistakes may have influenced the Returns in some degree; it is inevitable, though provoking, to the inquirers into the social status of the population that such errors should take place. But they may be imagined to occur in fairly constant proportions at each Census. It is hardly likely that less care is now exercised in the choice of enumerators, or that those selected in 1871 evinced less intelligence than those employed twenty years before. It appears most likely that the statement made at the present time is fairly correct. The opinion that the number of agricultural labourers has declined, is held by competent authorities-by Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., and Mr. Caird-and is supported by some collateral evidence. A Return for the purposes of the Census was obtained from farmers in seventeen representative counties. This was

compared with a similar Return made in 1851, and thus there was clearly shown to have been a diminution in the number of labourers in these seventeen counties, from about 280,000 in 1851, to about 200,000 in 1871. The diminution in these seventeen counties is somewhat greater in proportion than in the rest of rural England; but this is exactly what might have been expected, as these districts contain in general a distinctly agricultural population. The number of labourers, when compared with the extent of the land on which they worked, gives an average of about 35 acres to every man employed. If we refer to the agricultural returns for 1871, and take the number of acres under cultivation in England and Wales, and then calculate the number of men who would be required, in the proportion of one man to every 35 acres, we arrive at a number so close to that of the men stated in the Census Tables to be employed in agricultural pursuits, as to corroborate it very strongly. Hence we are brought, though with regret, to accept the numbers given in the Census Tables, and to believe that, year by year, agricultural pursuits occupy not only a smaller proportion, but a smaller actual number of the total population. At present the average acreage under corn and green crops, including in this term the 'roots' so important to the agriculturist, has not altered very materially in Great Britain since the year 1866.

It is by no means absolutely certain that, even if the wages of labour rose materially, the proportion of land employed for growing wheat would be permanently diminished. Mr. Rogers in his History of Agriculture and Prices in England,' reminds us that while wheat has been the customary food of this country

from

from the earliest times, 'England has been alternately a corngrowing and a grazing country;' and while the system of agriculture remains what it is at present, it is quite possible that even in the face of rising wages, and increasing imports, the proportion of land under wheat to the rest of the cultivated land of the country may not materially and permanently change. Some persons have expected that one result of the strike among agricultural labourers would be an increase in the size of farms. This may possibly be the case. But it is a remarkable circumstance, as mentioned by Mr. T. Brassey, M.P., in his address to the 'Conference of Co-operative Societies' at Halifax, that while the average size of the farms in the seventeen representative agricultural counties of England, referred to before, was 152 acres, the average size of the farms of the United States, according to the Census of 1870, was 154 acres. We may, therefore, safely infer that, as there is a coincidence in point of size between the farms of England and the United States, the acreage has in each case been determined by considerations of convenience, and, it may be added, is consequently scarcely likely to be altered with great rapidity.

That the produce of the soil is less now than it has been formerly is not likely either. Beyond doubt an increase in the use of agricultural machines, and a vast improvement among these and other implements, have enabled a larger return to be obtained from the soil with the employment of a smaller quantity of labour. The strikes among the agricultural labourers must exert an influence in the direction of a further diminution among their number. The reduction of this class during the last twenty years may lead some to the consideration whether, if it shrinks within still smaller limits, the farmers will be able to carry on their accustomed operations with the help of those who remain. The inference to be drawn from the Census Report is, that they certainly will. Within the last twenty years the numbers of the agricultural labourers have diminished nearly 20 per cent. Even within the last ten years this class, properly speaking, has decreased by more than 10 per cent., without apparently any considerable reduction in the quantity of land under cultivation. Another diminution to an equal extent, as great even as that which has taken place since 1851, would probably be met without difficulty by an increase in the appliances of machinery. It must also be remembered that to create a sudden diminution of the numbers of the agricultural labourer to the extent of 10 per cent. only on their total number by removal or emigration, is a more difficult operation than may at first sight appear. The number of persons to be provided for, if Vol. 139.-No. 278. 100,000

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100,000 heads of families, with those dependent on them, were moved, is not short of half a million. Those who remain will be better paid; and, it is to be hoped, better lodged. That their 'perquisites' and 'privileges' must have a considerable money value is curiously shown by a very interesting statement in the agricultural returns for 1873 of the number and size of 'garden' allotments (by which are understood allotments detached from a cottage or house) in each county in England. On examining into the number of the allotments in the seventeen representative agricultural counties referred to before, it will be found that there were no less than 91,492 such allotments among them. As there were 201,903 labourers in these counties in 1871, and as the number of allotments is exclusive of gardens and land attached to cottages, it is clear that there was a sufficient number of allotments to exercise a very considerable and beneficial influence on the condition of the agricultural labourers. While a diminution in the numbers of so important a class must be a matter of great regret, an improvement in their condition will be a source of increased strength to the country. That their status still requires considerable improvement, to bring it up to the level of the rest of the country, is shown by some painful facts. The proportions of births to marriages is lowest in the strictly agricultural counties. There is also among them a greater proportional number of blind persons than in the rest of England. The number of the blind may, in some degree, be attributed to the emigration of the young and healthy to districts in which their labour is better remunerated. Something also is probably due to food scarcely sufficient to induce a very vigorous life. There is a greater proportion of aged persons in the agricultural districts than in the rest of England; but, even allowing for this, there is a very remarkable number of blind persons in those portions of the country. The Census gives the numbers of men and women living at different periods of age in the various counties of England. If we look down the list, and place a mark against the names of those counties in which the men, between the ages of 20 and 40, the most vigorous period of life, are below the average, we shall find these almost without exception agricultural counties. If, again, in the same list we notice the numbers of men between 60 and 80-the old menand those places where the numbers of such are above the average, we shall find them to be the same counties which we have marked before. The agricultural counties which are deficient in young life are redundant in aged life; and any change in the distribution of the population, which might tend to remove from the agricultural districts what vigour remains in them,

would

would be greatly to be deprecated. We trust that not this effect but the reverse may be the ultimate outcome of the present movement, and that the agricultural population may emerge from the ordeal which they have undergone invigorated by the process. Except when warped by injudicious legislation, the landowner is the natural ally of the labourer on the land. It is a good sign that mutual respect did not break down in the late turmoil. The words of the old song may yet be verified-The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love.'

We will now turn from the agricultural to the town population. In approaching this part of the subject we must first define what is meant by a town. If we include in the description municipal boroughs, towns under Improvement Acts, and towns of some 2000 or more inhabitants, the description adopted in the Census, the number rises to 938. Of such towns' there were 580 in 1851, and 781 in 1861. Thirty years ago the 580 towns included less than half the population of England and Wales, but in 1871 more than 60 per cent., that is, more than six persons out of every ten, inhabited such towns.' It may be considered that a town with so limited a population as some of these, which hardly rise above the position of villages, scarcely deserves to be considered among the ranks of 'cities.' If we divide the towns of England and Wales into classes, and include, together with London, the 65 old county and assize towns, the 56 watering-places, the 42 principal seaports, and the 169 manufacturing towns, we shall find that nearly half the inhabitants of the country reside in these 333 towns. Their growth has been extremely rapid, and proceeds at a far greater rate of progress than the rest of the population. Gradually the more powerful life of rural England is being absorbed into the towns. The reverse of

the agricultural districts—it is here that the largest number of men of the most vigorous ages, the smallest number of men in old age are to be found. This reminds us how needful to the well-being of the country is an improved municipal organization for the towns; and how far, with our cumbrous, incomplete, and expensive method of local administration, we still are from attaining to a good system of municipal government. Only 224 of the 938 towns mentioned before are boroughs with a true municipal organization, and these boroughs contain less than half of the town population.

Something has undoubtedly been done to improve local government during the last twenty or thirty years; much, however, remains undone. To go no further than one point. The memorial recently presented to the Prime Minister by the College of Physicians, on the house accommodation of the

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metropolis,