RURAL ECONOMICS. 1169 



with moasnres dealing witli trnnsiiort, the onlariiciucnt of the powers of the 

 Iioard of aKi'k'ulture, and local taxation. We are also of opinion that the 

 position of the industry generally would hi' iinproved if means could be found 

 to create further facilities for land purchase in the United Kingdom." 



An appendix contains the evidence of witnesses, the replies to letters of 

 in(piii'y. and memoranda on the possibilities of sugar manufacture in the United 

 Kingdom, sugar beet and tobacco cultivation in the T'uited Kingdom, and the 

 purchase of land bill for England and Wales. 



Share system in cane cultivation in Fiji, Hawaii, and Mauritius, II. M. 

 .Jackson {West Iinliaii Bid.. I! {I!)o.',). \ti. I. pji. /x j/.- 7 {I'.liHS). Ao. ). pp. 

 ,il1-SU>). — The share system consists in the division of the land to be culti- 

 vated into blocks of about (50 acres, the owners doing the preliminar.v work of 

 preparing the land and planting it before handing it over to the cooperative 

 company of laborers who do the balance of the work until the cane is fit for 

 cutting. The owners also advance to the workers one shilling a day each for 

 maintenance with which they are duly debited. The cane is sold to the fac- 

 tories, and the ])roceeds, after deducting the landowner's share and all expenses 

 of cultivating, harvesting, carting, etc., are divided pro rata among the laborers. 



The advantages of the system are a lessening of the annual heavy expanse of 

 introducing a new supply of laborers, more efiicient service on the part of the 

 field hands, higher wages for service, and the retention of the farm help on the 

 land. This latter effect is regarded as affoi'ding a solution of the farm-help 

 problem, in these countries. 



Report of the commission on contract labor, I'. P^avre {Bui. tioc. Vaud. 

 A!/i\ rf ^ it., 1901. .A'o. 203, pp. Ji07-.'il'i). — This is a report presented to the 

 assembly of delegates of the agricultural and viticultiiral society of the Canton 

 of Vaud at Lausanne in December, 1905. 



The questions sought to be answered were : Wb.y contracts between farmers 

 and hired help were not resjiected by the latter, and what remedy could be sug- 

 gested? As answer to the first question the committee names two causes. The 

 great scarcity of farm help is assigned as the chief cause, the laborer knowing 

 that if he leaves one employer he can readily find another place at possibly an 

 increase of wages. The cau.ses assigned for the scarcity of reliable farm 

 laborers are the system of education in Vaud. insufficient remuneration for 

 farm labor, too many houi-s for a day's labor — 14 to IG daily and little loss on 

 Sundays — and the various social industries which offer steady employment and 

 other advantages which draw men from the farm to the towns and the cities. 

 The absence of a law controlling the relations between master and hired man 

 is given as the second cause wh.v contracts are not better resi)ec1ed tiy hired 

 farm laborers. 



As a remedy the commission recommends the passage of a suitable national 

 law which should aim to safeguard the rights of the master in matters per- 

 taining to the hiring of laborers. 



Statistics of agricultural associations for 1905 {Bill. Agr. [Bni.^.sels], 23 

 (}!)07). yo. 3. pp. 215-280). — Detailed statistics of agricultural organizations in 

 Jielgium for 19(3.5 in comparison with preceding years are reported. 



The statistics relate primarily to the number of societies in each province, the 

 membership, and the business transactetl, and include the following general 

 groups : Federations of professional agriculturists ; cooperative societies for the 

 purchase of seeds, conunercial fei'tilizers and feeding stuffs, and farm machinery ; 

 coojterative societies for the manufacture and sale of dairy products; agricul- 

 tural credit organizations, and agricultural insurance societies, which include 

 the insurance of live stock and crops destroyed by hail. 



