the depression also accelerated britain's rural depopulation. the 1881 census showed a decline of 92,250 agricultural labourers since 1871, with an increase of 53,496 urban labourers. many of these had previously been farm workers who migrated to the cities to find employment. between 1871 and 1901 the population of england and wales increased by 43% but the proportion of male agricultural labourers decreased by over one-third. according to sir james caird in his evidence to the royal commission on the depression in trade and industry in 1886, the annual income of landlords, tenants and labourers had fallen by £42,800,000 since 1876. no other country witnessed such a social transformation and british policy contrasted with those adopted on the continent. every wheat-growing country imposed tariffs in the wake of the explosion of american prairie wheat except britain and belgium. subsequently, britain became the most industrialised major country with the smallest proportion of its resources devoted to agriculture.