The delegates of the Agricultural Labourers' Associations held a meeting
on Saturday at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, Mr. Joseph Arch presiding. Strong resolutions against war were carried unanimously, and the delegates present pledged themselves, if the Government refused to adjust its differences with Russia, either by a Congress or by arbitration, to " use all the influence they possess to induce their fellows in the agricultural districts to strike against war by not enlisting, and to leave those who have made the quarrel to fight it out themselves." The last vote is of little importance, except as a method of advertising opinion, for men who enlist care little for the opinion of those they leave behind, but the proceedings show the strong divergence between the labourers' opinions and those of the farmers. The usual rural notion is that all wars are good, because all wars raise the price of corn, but the labourers do not see it in that light. They expect no rise in wages from war, and know that everything they eat will cost them more. They are almost the only class on which the new tax on tobacco fell with appreciable weight. It costs them Is. 4d. a year, or about two days' wages.
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