§ Mr. DEANasked the Minister of Agriculture the total number of persons engaged in agricultural work during, or about, the year 1874: the number so employed during the latest year for which Returns have been received; and the acreage of arable land luring the years in question?
Mr. WOODNo figures are available for the year 1874, and the only comparable figures which can be given are those furnished by the decennial census. The number of persons engaged in agriculture as returned at. the population census in 1871 and 1921, and the acreage of arable land as returned on the 4th June in those years in England and Wales were as follows:
Persons engaged in Agriculture.*
Year. Males. Females. Arable Land. No. No. Acres. 1871 1,240,565 174,637 14,946,179 1921 917,466 67,409 11,618,236 *Farmers, graziers, relatives assisting in the work of the farm, farm bailiffs, foremen, shepherds, tractor drivers and attendants, agricultural labourers and farm servants.