Coal-miners from 17s. 0d. to 27s. 0d. Quarry men (slate) from„18s. 0d. to 23s. 0d. Carters from„17s. 0d. to 19s. 0d. Railway labourers (maintenance) from„15s. 0d. to 20s. 0d. Butchers' men from„16s. 0d. to 18s. 0d. Police constables average 20s. 0d. Bakers' men from 21s. 0d. to 26s. 6d. Cotton workers average 18s. 6d. Silk workers from 17s. 0d. to 24s. 0d.
The difference between these figures (which, it will be seen, do not cover the highest grade of trade operatives), and the wages of the agricultural labourer, is too great to exist between the two main branches of the wage-paid classes without making efforts to reduce it. It accounts for the fact that the population of our leading agricultural counties is decreasing, while that of other counties in which manufacturing towns exist is increasing with more than ordinary rapidity.[1] It accounts, too, for the deplorable truth, that while the industrial labourers of our towns are known to save money to provide for incapacity and old age, the utmost the agricultural labourer manages to do is by means of provident societies, if he is lucky enough to belong to one which is well managed, to provide for illness during his working age. In the breast of the former there exists a hope of accumulating money, and ultimately becoming a master, while the final prospect of the latter is, I regret to say it, nothing but pauperism and the union. Sad as this picture is, it is a satisfaction to
- ↑ The population of Lancashire has increased from 2,031,236, in 1851, to 2,429,440, in 1861, and Staffordshire from 608,716, in 1851, to 746,943 in 1861; whereas the population of Cambridgeshire has decreased from 185,405 in 1851, to 176,016, in 1861, and Norfolk from 442,714, in 1851, to 434,798 in 1861.
