Lord Clarendon took the opportunity of a meeting of the
West Herts Agricultural Association to defend the system of giving prizes to labourers. He said the man who remains many years in the same place, who brings up many children without parish aid, and who puts money in the savings' bank, does good service to the community, and ought to be sought out and rewarded. Very good ! suppose we all subscribe for a reward to the Mar- quis of Westminster, who has done all those things Why on earth cannot Lord Clarendon tell the truth—that it is very con- venient to squires to find hinds who will live vegetable lives with- out taxing the parish, and so they try to make such lives as credit- :able as may be? The men have either been properly paid, or they have not. If they have not, the offer of a reward for living on their wages is a cheat ; if they have, it is surplusage. Nobody pays a curate for living on his wages.
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