Rural depopulation / by G. B. Longstaff.

  • Longstaff, George Blundell, 1849-1921.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rural depopulation / by G. B. Longstaff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Rural Depopulation. By G. B. Longstaff, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. [Read before the Royal Statistical Society, 20th June, 1893. CHAEiiES Booth, Esq., President, in the Chair.] The alarming depopulation of our rural districts, has of late been the subject of many articles and even more speeches. Able journalists have discoursed on the causes, and ambitious politicians, anxious to catch the votes of an ignorant electorate, have vied with one another in suggesting remedies, but few persons seem to have had time or inclination to take a comprehensive view of the actual facts. It is the business of the statistician to clear the way by ascertaining and recording the precise state of the case, and so determine the geographical extension and numerical intensity of the phenomenon; when this has been done then, and then only, shall we be in a position to dogmatise as to causes and remedies. To make my meaning clear: if the alleged depopulation be the result of a bad method of government, or a prejudicial system of land tenure, we should expect to find the phenomenon coextensive wdth these evils; is this in fact the case, or is it not ? The present moment seems to be especially opportune for such an inquiry, not only because many remedial measures are now under discussion, but because a recent census has brought the facts up to date. First, I would premise that the word depopulation is often very vaguely employed, but that here it will be used as denoting a diminution in the number of the inhabitants of a district, as com- pared with those emmnerated at a preceding census, quite irrespective of the extent of such diminution. We shall find that, as a matter of fact, such diminution amounts as a rule to but a small fraction of the initial population, a loss of lo per cent, in twenty years being unusually large, and a loss of 25 per cent, quite exceptional. Taking the case of England and Wales first. The matter is not so simple as might be at first supposed; although everyone has a general idea of what is meant by rural as distinguished from urban population, it is not so easy in all cases to draw the line. On the one hand the country residences and suburban villas of more or less well-to-do townspeople are to be found invading the country and adding considerably to its population, yet their in- mates though in the country are not of it, and they are not attracted or repelled by the same causes as the farmers and