The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-01-16 00:00:00

P°M4

peevent those who are always Is march of
jest which they can beet up in mum
pb pipielop, from swain • stigma on .
agrioult, as had been moistly does, beeetem
the full amount of the ways paid would then
be known, mid Dot, se at preessut,
Another thing which tha farmers of bar;
determined to de, sod we think very / so
discourage annual hbleg or statues fake, seta"..,..
gate= of engsgemente through the system of a
office. We also observe that greet stress was=
hOling good cottage moommodetima whether the mme
'hal be given free. as at present, or 'barged with •
Axed rent, one of the speakers, Mr. Andrews, justly
remarking with referent's to this point, that "if they
had good accommodation on their farms. asd wean
mamarl roastere—not extraordinarily good ear eery
bad csasten—the man with a wile and two or Orem
sitildreu would be more anxious to come to these thee
to extraordinarily good masters where there were bed
cottages fair Use Lammers. It was in human Delano
that it should he so, baths* the pear man liked bis
comforts se well aa • rich lath. If • labourer worked
hard all day, and kept at it through • heavy norm--
was not one of throe sugar-plum fellows who nut to •
shelter directly • drop of rain fell—.ad so sot Wei, it
was only natural that when the day's work was done
he should like to have • comfortable cottage to go to ;
the cottage was comfortable, they getterally. found the
vita eosofortable ; and he could not soomive of any-

YoT: rz.--r; to go home
wet, and sold, and tired, aed find his wife scolding,
which would be the natural resell 121 • smoky elthencl.
And if the man bad a bed cottage, it wee probable that
not oaly wee the chimney seeeliy the
door he.. kept open, but that the ioarried I=se at
water in it, and the window was broke., with some
panes stuffed with rap, and others not atopped at al.
'file wife of • labourer who bad each • cottage warn sere
to to arose, and he was sure to be ancomfortabla, and
then be concluded nal orally enough, " I cannot stand
this; ober) fair ootnes I'll go sad ass ill can pi a place
where I shall have a little more comfortabh cottage i°
This speaker went to the root of the manor, for
outings aosoniroodatkin bee a great deal to do with the
labour gnostical enserally, sad It is in fact the first
point to which attention ought to be gine, by landlords
and by Moult farmers. Dwellings ad • proper deranip-
tion for labouren are • positive netiamity, just as good
stables, cowsheds, and fanshoases are. Men mast be
. . . . .

to sTinTk the tam, and it Is a Amnia tor maize:
to stipulate for good farmstead asoommodatlon
making good acoommodation for his labourers equally
imperative. Yet this most important point is too ire
-
gainsay aeglecasel; the only reason being, ester seers can
see,
.that horse, and maids sort money. and naiad be •
. . . . . .

dead loss if pot properly *needed to, whereas labourers
can be got at the nint biring fair, and disobergad whoa
incompetent. Rot in every magma ibis peeled of tbe
labourer's cottage accommodation is not merely in-
judicikaa bat highly injurious to the interests of
employers as well as of society at large. "Badly
bowel," sad the well-known R. 0.0. in tbe Times, in
an address delivered to lb. Blandlord Farm.?, Club,
they will be badly reared • so sobool power, so
atone or chapal.poiee!, can 0111k11 good eere.ante oat of
. .

men, warned. and children bred reared,' Dad stabled on
- •

an estate, bat never in regard to their ionise, treated as
human beings who are suseeptibie of the claims of
decency—who hey. ideas relative to a home beyood that
of mere shelter.' Tim most offootire cartoons
John Leech seer produced were the eompanion pair
which appeared in Puna foot years ego, where he
sheared on one aide "the stooge," with the landlord
a idniming Mr. Punch in Ur, fol owing henna:—" Yea,
Kr. Punch ; nice, clean, airy bores, p'eety of light,
perfect drainage and weeliktios ; the beet al too i and
water; and kind treatment : Tbaa's my pLan f" while on
the opposite page a wretched cottage, erowded with
inmates, gave Mr. Punch the opportunity of saying to
Um landlord, "Your stable arrangements are excellent I
Suppose you try something of the sort here I Eh?" All
over the United Kingdom the.. is an urgent call for

improved cottage aooLtutodatme, and although mueb
remains to be dooe, and, as we have said, too groat an
amount of indiffereaos is manifeetad in many cook, yM
it Le gratifying to know that the /abject is iv:Wog a
make d•gros of interest generally, sod that means are
befog mod to remedy this crying evil even In mime parts
011 k. kingdom where it has hitherto been freaked.

Th. 'movement moo, the ploughmen of the metre;
politaa county of Scotland continues to go on, and
whatever difference of opinion may Guist regrading the
object of that movement, we believe that all who have
watched their proceedings will glee the nuts credit for
tbe pluck, good temper, and ability they have toani-
faded in their discussions. We osnalnly think they ara
wrong in some of their opiniona, nor, when the value of
everything m calculated, do we conaider that they memo
badly off in point of wages as they represent; but we
believe that no opposition is likely to be raised to the
payment of wz,,,es weekly or fortnightly, or the mamma.
tattoo of their present allowance of meal, oow's
. .

great when soot; im given, potatoes, kc., into a' lied
money payment. We doubt very mush, however,
whether snob an arrangement would ultimately be
found the best for the men thetuselese. The payment
partly in kind always keeps a full meal-tub, with plenty
of milk and potatoes. isc well as other matters in the
home, acid we are old -f ohioned enough to think that the
food es ured to the Scotch foni labourer in this way, is
of a much more nourishing nature than my he could
substitute for it, or any dietary is use among farm
labourers in other parts of the kingdom. And II lw
I, substituted for meal and milk, kis., • change ad food
will inevitably follow; and it is more than prable that
washy tea, with a bit of dry breed and a modicum of ia-
ferior theme, will take the place of that more substair
tial food which ham made Scotch plooshmen the fine, big,
burly fellows they unquestionably are. We know that
such has been the case elsewhere without any changes
being made in the mode of payment; wives selling the
meal and wheat given to their husbands for the p
of buying very inferior high priced tea from travelling
tea pedlars, and the poor bard-working husbands suffer
in oonarquence. The employment given on farms to the
members of ploughmen's families has been kept out of
sight by the speakers at the ploughinen'il meetings
although in this way a considerabie addition is often
made to the imam' of the family, for ploughman are
usually blessed with very fretful vines; and so far,
escept in the matter of wars, they have not cone to
the point as regards the grievances of which they my
they complain, end for which they profess to seek
redress. It ia set unlikely that the movement, if per-
idsted in, will end in a complete revolution in the pore
tion of master and servant, as it existe at present in
Se thud ; bst whether that will be for the nitisnate
benefit of the latter. time alone eon tell We doubt
mach that it will be for their benelt ; In feet, we are
confident that it will not be for their good; bat one
thing we are well assured, that with by,.. cleared out
by the caul* *pm, and s total uncertainty ma to the
future program GI that deadly malady, the present time
has not been well chosen by the farm servants for an
agitation on the subject of increased wages.

JOHN CRO69 AND THE DORBETSHIRE
LABOURER&

The following curious etatement —curious on a/want
of the meaner in which facts he.. bean dietorted—was
made by hfr. Pries, who visited John Cross by request
of some If snobeater manatee, at the meeting of which
a notioe appeared in oar last isms

Mr. Pries found Mat Cross had removed from Etttap.
wick to azother Millar, four or 11. s mil.. chg....
Everywhere he heard but cum sentauseot rormeetieg

pas—be was & universal favourite, and be void- rid;

anything for anybody. He bad removed because Cap.
tain St. J. Ooventry bad offered biai an advance of 2e. •
week and • bowie for less rent. The house he bad lived
in for twenty years bad no firelrate, nor had the ouch.
bad removed to, though ono vas to be put in. This
boom be bad lived in had only the bare earth fore floor.
For twenty-four years he bad never earned more than
• week. Something had been said about piece work
I. that neighboerbood, and he had mot with two is..

-
who for sit-weeks hotfoot earned more Hum 5.. a week
ear by it. Been the Bd. • week of Crowe and °there—
for there were thousands like him— was reduced by the
" truck " syetem, under which the fanner sold the
labourers error corn at tr price of beet. For ei.tht
yeses CFO'S had paid 6d. weekly for the mohooling of hia
obildren. He could not, through the operation of the
law of seitlettreat, live in the parish, which he worked ;
II twenty•feur year. he had walked 36000 mi!e• to and
from the farm ; and Mr. Price met men who hr.! walked
70,000 miles to and from their labour. TT* orninp of
Crows afforded Birl. per week per bead for food for his
faintly; during the cotton famine in the etranufrituring
districts, the relief from all Noumea Mori illy authored
to Se. 64. per head. Cross bad never had Ire than
nine in fancily for thirty years. He had twelve children
by his first wife; she and four of the children died ; and
Cram, with eight, married a yowl, widow with five, to
whom the edded germ. Mr. Priori had mien visited the
farm in which Cron had worked—whor the bore was
• mansion; saw the farmer', wife and eon, who ere
plalned of baring been nearly "written to death," ask.
also, if fibre were any poor in Laneathire. Croon
bliarlf seemed thankful 01.1 bribed ler better off than
others, • generally admitted feet, for he apparel really
to have • share in the mansgemeat of • farm; be bsd
era received • prise from an agricultural society for
having reared so many el.ildrea without parothial relief;
hat he had rarely any idea of the world outside that
in which he lived. The agitation of this ease had led to
• meeting of farmers, attended by "8.0.0.," at whir
it had bra agreed to abolish the truce system. It
appeared that meaty which had seat for Crops bad her n
returned, and that the farmers had eves gore so far as
to endeavour to stop this Sow of benevolther The
Daily Telegraph hod paid L'2so to the Roe. Mr. Ostrow,
and £l5O had gone from Manchester. An exeellent
opportunity of investing money for Cross had been
allowed to per ; he had been psiii but • ...all sum for
his pressing wants; and Mr. Orbs' proposed to Inver
the money and pay Crow the interest. Under all sar-
cumitanoes, the earoribers could or bare confides°,
that the money would be as well applied as they wished.

The Pa oaten refining to Mr. Pricw's date-
went says: —Of mune the information was imparted
to the mining with • view to show how very badly
Cross has bees treated all his his; bet in Sr. afraid
the 'interesting particulars" will go far to dungy that
unfortunate nmea's ante in the eyes of indiaions philan-
thropirta tiny of tbe entemente were indeed startling
rnough ; but to what ponces Aid Mr. PM.s inform his
itttoot,r. that "in 24 years Cram had walked 30 000
wiles to sad from Lb* fun oe which he worked
Thirty theinmed miles in 24 years is se nearlyas possible
(oar musts day—six days per week. Is their anything
snewiehieg ia soak a performenee Or rather lilt sot
aaougerably under that preformed by thorn& of
labourers throughout the country, who never dream of
winning the fact at • proof of their ill-treatinent?
Bat the sympathy for John Cross is mainly based oe
Use foot of his never having had less thaa MIMI in family
for 30 years. HO had 12 children by eis int wife ; she
and tottr of the children died'
, and Cram, with eight
children, married • young widow with On, to whom
she added seven. And then fnllows the eurken state-
ment that Chose had even reesived a prise from an
egrieelturel society for Lavin reared is many children
withoet parochial relief. The" bons" in whisit this
happy family redden! for 20 years Is described is
without • ire-grate, and the loot.. beluga, ban earth.
Yet into this hovel John Croon wish eight *Brim amok
4 wih with int inns to " live " oft ea. week I Flaw.
aver, his virtue and his forethought have ham
Istaasaaai by a sahaseiptiaa mosallas to MOM