The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-02-21 00:00:00

THE DORCHESTER HIRING FAIR.

Notwithstanding he crowds of labourers who
Unaltered our streets on Tuesday, it is evident the
great hiring Isle of past dam hart been shorn of much
of its importance. It would now seem to be regarded
by them as very little more than • gala day, on which
occasion the main object, of some at leant, is to spend
their superfluous cash, and to imbibe as much Dor-
chester beer as they use with misty accomplish.
Strange to say the weather was moderately flue (ice it
is • noted hat VIM Dorchester Fair Day is always
more or less humid), and this doubtless accounted for
the exceptionally large number of country folks who
honoured the county town by their presence.
In the vicinity of the Con Exchange, the streets
were obstructed by stalls loaded with sweets, ginger-
bread* and other sticky and indigestible compounds,
which appeared however to be highly enjoyed by the
rustic juveniles, To them at least, Dorchester Fair
must still be • red-letter day, and, indeed, so far se
the labourers themselves are cowered, pleasure and DOC
business is the order of the day. Although the streets
were so crowded, there were no disturbances of any
kind, and beyond tiro came of drunkenness sad two of
=pockets, which man before the Borough
atm on the following morning, the police seem
to have had little extra to do.
The National Labourers' Union took advantage of
the opportunity afforded them, and celled • meeting of
labourers on Pordingtoer Green, and here we might
remark on • fact which speaks well for the commas
seam and discrimhudloa of the men. Farm Memory
...by this we mesa the genuine farm labourer—were
=ttous by their abeam* The majority of the
or two persons who surrounded the
entraining all available eloquence of the Sa=
were townspeople. There were, it is true, • dome er
Iwo enthusiastic iscllviduals from the causally, who
still appeared to mooed their sympathy with the
Union and its doctrines, but the representatives of the
Union meld not is my way 'magnetite*, themselves
either on • unanimous or a successful g?ebuing.
A Mr. Caandornia occupied the • chair which
we presume meant • precarious seat on the side of the
waggon, and this gentlemen was supported by Mr.
Joseph Arch, Mr. George blittheA "One from
the Plough." Mr. E. Dickman and Mr. Pike, the
district secretory.
Harmony commeneed the meeting, the assembled
gathering (or rather the limited number who joined in
the song) exhorting one another musically to
"Stand liks the brave
With thy hoe to the foe."
It did not transpire, however, who the said foe,
toward whom they were so charitably Inclined, could
have been, unless it was the landlords, against whom
Misers. Kitchell and Arch is their speeches so bitterly
inveighed.
After the Cataloguer had leads • brief Von*
Me Gammas Mame= addressed the meting. This
cheerful and well-farmed podium was greeted with
applause end laughter. "What ars ye laugitiag at r
he eommeseed, "Is It bemuse you have been and sold
yourselves for 9s. • week (Hear. hear.) Then I
would Weiss ye all logo and 'list for • soldier." In
this course of • speech of considerable humour, be said
they had witnessed that day • same which was a
diagram to the civilisation and Christianity of the
country." (A policeman who was stationed close by
the waggon appeared amused at this sentiment.) Now
there's • policeman there smiling at that; but he's got
• good suit of clothes on, and I may wish all the
labours(' and their families were as well off. Is it, he
continued, worthy of Christian men to stand up in rows
selling yourselves and being badgered down to la. and
fle.awsek? (No, no, and applause.) At the does of
• speech, is which some language was made use of the
reveres of complimentary to various gendarme in the
neighbourhood of Dorchester, "One from the Plough"
moved that • psalm be sent to Parliament support-
lagitr. Jaws Cadge' motion for peasant proprietary.
motion was seconded by Mr. DICCrel nod
carried.
Mr. Pm, then proposed • me dation in favour of an
extension of the franchise.
Mr. J. Lam seconded the resolution. and doling-ad
what in his own lawns" was an " istorical speech In
regard to the hagricalture of this country." The
Meant farmers were, he admitted, in gnat
difficulties. They did not know what to do, they were
ban inclined to believe Arab and half Inclined to
believe the landlord,, But if they did not mind, the
agriculture of the country would be misled, and if they
had another five years like the bat, the Meant farmers
would became extinct. His historical speech, data
back prior to the Crimean War, which Imelaaraderised
as an attempi on the part of English statesmen to ruin
the country for the sake of their bloody warlike
aggrandisement He 'poke of the deliberate attempts
on the part of the landlords to Impede the progress of
the working claims. The first agricultural
began in 1857, when the rears went up. Zresaiwiael
labour was divorced from the land—by which two pro-
misees fanners had been brought into their preemie
stets, from which they never could recover until the
landlords had been compelled to dimmer* the 15 to 20
per cent, of the unfair rents which they had taken in
days gene by. Were they going to "it tamely down
and me the tenant farmers rack-rented to the chin, and
taxed up to the hilt, while the landlords lived in
luxury and idleness at their expense? lie did not
blame the landlords, but he blamed the farmers and
labourers for being such fools asio allow it. Radening
to the subject of the motion, he said then was no
clam of Her Majesty's subients who bad greeter cause
to plead for an extension of the free than the
labels/ore had. _ _