German Agricultural Labourers 



421 



bourhood of Leipzig, who cultivates land be- 

 longing to the town, told me that he paid his 

 female labourers at- the rate of 10 groschen 

 (is.) per day, and his male ones at 22 gros- 

 chen (nearly 2s. 2>^d.). This, however, 

 does not seem to be the case throughout the 

 whole of Germany. Wages are not always 

 paid in money, there being what is called 

 " Natural " and " Geldlohnung," the former 

 meaning that, Hke the hinds and shepherds in 

 Scotland, they are partly paid with other 

 materials, though the tendency of the present 

 day is towards the abolishing of this system, 

 and the adoption of a pure money bargain, 

 and this according to the wish of the em- 

 ployers, and not of the employed. In the 

 old provinces of Prussia there were employed 

 of the two classes — namely, Gesinde (people 

 engaged yearly, who live in the employer's 

 establishment), and Taglohnern (those 

 engaged for short periods, and paid at 

 so much a-day, but living entirely apart 

 from the premises of the employer). 



In Fuhling's Lajid^virthschaftliche Zeitinig, 

 part 12, 1867, a model method of payment 



was given, and which at the time was con- 

 sidered high. It was for the Gesinde, and 

 was as follows : — For January, February, 

 November, and December, two thalers each, 

 as these are the months in which least car\ 

 be done ; March and October, four thalers 

 each ; April and September, five each ; May 

 and June, six each ; and July and August, 

 seven each ; and at the end of the year's 

 service eight thalers premium — so that in all 

 sixty thalers {£,0) forms, in the estimation of 

 the German people, a good payment for this 

 class of work. The master can lay on a fine 

 for any misdemeanour according to his own 

 judgment, but it must go into the Gcsindckasse 

 (servants' bank) for the benefit of the whole 

 of them. A servant can give notice to leave 

 at any time, but must leave within twenty- 

 four hours, and can lay claim to no more 

 money than for the last complete month. 

 They can, however, from this save money, 

 some to take them over to America, others 

 to obtain a piece of land to cultivate for 

 themselves, or to lay in store against a feeble 

 old age. 



COMPENSATION FOR UNEXHAUSTED IMPROVEMENTS. 



THE discussions at the Farmers' Club 

 and the Central Chamber of Agricul- 

 ture, on the question of Tenant-Right, have 

 brought out a good many arguments on both 

 sides of the controversy, a considerable 

 amount of inconsistency, and a superabun- 

 dance of talk which has, in not a few cases, 

 been of no value whatever, but which, on the 

 contrary, has tended to consume hours of 

 valuable time. Com.parisons, we are told, 

 are odious, and were we to institute a com- 

 parison between the proceedings of the 

 Farmers' Club and the Central Chamber, we 

 feel certain that it would not be particularly 

 advantageous to the latter body. At the 

 very outset of the discussion a mistake was 

 made which might have landed the Chamber 

 in, to say the least, an awkward position ; 



and although mistakes, we are sorry to say^ 

 are not " few and far between " at meetings 

 of that body, still, in connexion with this 

 subject, they have a somewhat more impor- 

 tant bearing than is generally the rule. Put- 

 ting aside altogether the repudiation of Mr 

 Long and Mr Read, the respective proposer 

 and seconder of the resolution adopted at the 

 last meeting of the Chamber in the summer 

 as not being the resolution agreed upon at 

 riiat time in consequence of a clerical 

 blunder, it was rather amusing to observe the 

 resolute determination depicted on the faces 

 of the chairman and members when Mr Long 

 rose to propose an amendment to the resolution 

 advanced by the Business Committee. Mr 

 Long succeeded in finding a seconder to such 

 an amendment — which was to the effect that 



