ral labourer; for it
ensured him a good cottage at a nearly nominal rent and close to his
work; whereas in many instances previously the cottages on the farms had
been let at a high rate to the mechanics, and the labourer had to walk
miles before he got to his labour. Cottages are not erected by
landowners or by farmers as paying speculations. It is well known that
the condition of things prevents the agricultural labourer from being
able to pay a sufficient rent to be a fair percentage upon the sum
expended. In one instance a landlord has built some cottages for his
tenant, the tenant paying a certain amount of interest on the sum
invested by the landlord. Now, although this is a matter of
arrangement, and not of speculation--that is, although the interest paid
by the tenant is a low percentage upon the money laid out, yet the rent
paid by the labourers inhabiting these cottages to the tenant does not
reimburse him what he pays his landlord as interest--not by a
considerable margin. But then he has the advantage of his labourers
close to his work, always ready at hand.

Over and above the actual cash wages of the labourer, which are now very
good, must be reckoned his cottage and garden, and often a small
orchard, at a nominal rent, his beer at his master's expense,
piece-work, gleaning after harvest, &c., which alter his real position
very materially. In Gloucestershire, on the Cotswolds, the best-paid
labourers are the shepherds, for in that great sheep-country much trust
is reposed in them. At the annual auctions of shearlings which are held
upon the large farms a purse is made for the shepherd of the flock, into
which every one who attends is expected to drop a shilling, often
producing L5. The shepherds on the Wiltshire downs are also well paid,
especially in lambing-time, when the greatest watchfulness and care are
required. It has been stated that the labourer has no chance of rising
from his position. This is sheer cant. He has very good opportunities of
rising, and often does rise, to my knowledge. At this present moment I
could mention a person who has risen from a position scarcely equal to
that of a labourer, not only to have a farm himself, but to place his
sons in farms. Another has just entered on a farm; and several more are
on the highroad to that desirable consummation. If a labourer possesses
any amount of intelligence he becomes head-carter or head-fagger, as the
case may be; and from that to be ass