In the autumn of last year we addressed inquiries to the managers of all the public works we could hear of in the country. The object of these inquiries was to ascertain the number of men employed, the extent to which they were lodged in huts, apart from other men, and the provision made for their spiritual needs in the way of schools, services, &c. The number of places from which answers were received was thirty-four. Out of these there were twelve at which were no huts, the men being lodged in towns or villages which happened to be sufficiently near. Thus, there were twenty-two places at which huts had been erected, and navvy colonies, more or less extensive, called into being.
The total number of huts reported was 843, giving an average of about 38 huts to each place.
The total number of men employed was 13,244, or an average of nearly 400 at each place.
I must here ask the reader to remember that these facts and figures are gathered from a comparatively small area. Our queries were addressed to the managers of some 70 different works, of which we heard merely by questioning the navvies at L W, and by studying the columns of the newspapers. There can be no doubt that the number of works in progress is very much larger than this.
But replies to our queries were received from only 34 places. Even so, we have information relating to the condition of 13,000 men, besides women and children. What the grand total would be if complete statistics could be gathered from the whole of England, it is difficult to guess.
For want, however, of larger information, we take our 13,000 as a sample, remembering that they are but a
