Tore. Yew Tees Lentre i Doberm, we ind Moat the arece mice of the tabuer in thee bila tuking expereaved and clay Links together over the xble paramount : 6471 per if we ke the expemeored band her the rate is B 61 per fan. On the other nand, the average hilly wage of taksa beklagers of masona, carpenters, and whelms respectively, are (when employed in 511 wk 0 g 136 104., 114. B, and 10 gid, the avenge of the far being 112911 We are now in a position to contrast the rates of remuneration of the two classes of labourers in either country. First, then, the average of the agricultural laborers' wages in the three English counties enumerated stands to the tradesmen's wages as 158. 5 to 348. 4., the latter being 123 per cent above the former. Second, the average of the agricultural labourers' wages in the four American States enumerated may be stated at 8s. per day, while the average of the tradesmen's wages is 118. 94d., thus showing a superiority in the latter of only 48 per cent., and this result, notwithstanding the artificial stimulus given to the industries of the tradesmen by the establishment of a prohibitive tariff levied on foreign manufactures. If, however, we take into account the fluctuation of occupation that exists in the industrial centres of these four States, it is very questionable 1 Reports on the Industrial Classes. Report by Mr. E. M. Archibald. New York, March 18, 1872. whether the remuneration of the tradesmen ought to be reckoned so high as the figure stated. These facts can bear, then, only one interpretation, namely, the one we have already assigned-that the illpaid labourers in England are superabundant. If, therefore, those who are well paid-namely, the tradesmenreceive just the natural and proper amount of remuneration, which is in general testified by the fact that the industries in which they are engaged continue to prosper, it is obvious that the ill-paid are only half-paid, and that their condition in every respect must correspond with such a miserable rate of living. What proportion of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom occupy such a position? It would be difficult to reply to this question with accuracy. Still, it may be said generally, that the greater proportion of the inhabitants of Ireland residing in the purely rural districts, almost all those of the insular and northern districts of Scotland, and the greater proportion of the farm labourers of England, must occupy this comparatively backward condition. Indeed, the medical officer of the Board of Health declared some years since, after a most careful investigation, that one-fifth of our popula tion have not a sufficiency of food and clothing. There must therefore be a resulting loss to the country as a whole, imperceptible though it be, of considerable moment; for all these inhabitants exist below the natural standard of comfort and efficiency. Whatever improvement their condition undergoes must be in the direction of raising them higher as individuals; additional and improved supplies of food, clothing, and housing, which means increased remuneration, must first go to produce additional health and strength. The wealth that is presently expended on the payment of their labour would become then more remunerative, until gra lually the labourers would find themselves little by little in a position to lay by something of their own, sparing from their immediate necessities some realised strength for sustenance in the future period of increasing weakness. When this condition had been attained, the savings of the multitude might begin to be added to swell the resources of the country. But there is another condition equally necessary to the healthy existence of such a state as that wherein saving would become the rule, and the contribution of capital by the masses would be efficiently stimulated. That other condition consists in the formation of sufficiently powerful habits of thrift. The labourer may be efficient, and he may derive the full remuneration due to his efficiency; he may work with ease and comfort to himself, and with profit to his employer and to the community; but unless he go further and exercise prudence to save some of his earnings against a future period, and even with the view of benefiting his children, he cannot be said to derive that advantage from his improved situation that he ought. But there must be strong and palpable inducements to create thrift. No lectures on the moral beauty of economy can be expected to change the practice of men who have been accustomed to feel only the comfort and gratification of self-indulgence. They must first feel that their savings will be secure, and the institution of postal savings banks has done immense good by creating the necessary confidence. The old private banks could not thus be relied on, for there were frequent and disastrous failures. The difference of security was felt and appreciated strongly, as is testified by the fact that after the establishment of the government banks, in 1862, the number of depositors in the private banks diminished, and in ten years there were as many depositors in the former as in all the latter together, and thereafter the number of depositors in the government banks became rapidly preponderant. But there is one especial engine by which the necessary virtues of thrift may be cultivated, and we have already described the powerful influence which it exercises upon the continent of Europe. That consists in thepassion for land,' which has been found capable of counteracting other passions that are gross and reckless. The cultivation of this passion for land demands only field for its exercise; but where it is not, there must be expected to grow up, as there has grown up among the working classes in this country, a spirit of recklessness that is not manifested on the Continent. Let, however, the passion for land take hold of the people, and they will become, as possessors of patches, perhaps originally of little value, thrifty, contented, respectable, orderly, and conservative members of society. So much for the moral influence of this passion its economical influence is calculated to be quite as marked. Instead of the immense sums that are, as already described, presently squandered upon drink, there would arise a strong competition for the acquisition of land. The face of the country, where land would be accessible to the workman, would be interspersed with gardens, which would produce those fruits and vegetables of which there is now such a poor supply, and of which so large a proportion is presently imported from the adjoining countries, where workmen generally are owners of land. But the present landowners would benefit largely from the opening up of a competition for the article they hold that had never before been felt, and, as I think Mr. John Bright remarked in one of his late speeches, it is surely not too much to ask a reform affecting the landowning classes that can act no otherwise than T Eng beneficially to them. All who are not at pret circumstances cannot afford to buy land, fe, & land more particulary, the costs of the transierence are too heavy and uncertain. At the present time immense suns are sent atrad foreign countries, and these for the most part represent the savings of the middle classes. Such are not ZINCmonly lost altogether, and the community is thereby rendered so much the less prosperous. Were the opportunities of development that would arise from a more general possession of the soil of the country by the people fully realised, the capital that is presently sear abroad might, to a large extent, be advantageously retained at home, and the resources of the country and of ite coasts, which are being opened out now comparatively slowly and fitfully, at least where there are no minerals, would be more rapidly and fully ascertained and utilised. There can be no question that one great evil which afflits the outlying agricultural districts is the want of capital, and the want of capital is caused to a large extent by the vastness of the estates of individuals who are accustomed to a large personal and family expenditure, and who cannot take any appreciable commercial interest in the development of every part of their large estates. As one instance of how such a change would influence the prosperity of the country, we may refer to the facts that were elicited in the evidence lately given in the inquiry of the Herring Fishery Commission. The want of proper harbour accommodation appears, according to that evidence, to be the reason why the fishery is unduly restricted. The fishermen caught in a storm cannot find over long tracts of coast any secure refuge, and even at ordinary times, the accommodation for the conduct of their trade is inadequate. The fishermen themselves have never contributed much towards the construction of such necessary |