Page:The agricultural labourer (Denton).djvu/41



At a conference of noblemen and gentlemen, of various shades of political opinion, which took place on Saturday, March 21st, at Willis's Rooms, to consider the present conditions of the agricultural labourers of England, the following questions formed the basis of discussions which took place: Whet are the causes of the unsatisfactory condition of the agricultural labourer? What are the best means calculated to improve that condition? If by the formation of a society, then upon what plan should such society be constituted, and what steps should be taken to form it? Canon Girdlestone advocated the formation of a public society, by the organised aid of which the labourers might be elevated to the position which they ought to hold. He wished the union or society simply to be a defensive and protective society. He wished to say that he strongly guarded himself against being the instigator of aggression by agricultural labourers either against their employers or their fellow workmen, if the latter might not happen to accord in their particular views. What they sought for was free trade in labour, that every agricultural labourer should have the privilege of taking his labour to the market where he could best dispose of it, and that he should receive such a rate of wages as the character of his labour might command. He moved the follow resolutions:

"1.—It is the opinion of this meeting that in many parts of the country the condition of the agricultural labourer, as regards wages, treatment, house room, and opportunities for acquiring information and manual skill, is such as demands serious and immediate attention.