GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



RATES OF CASH WAGES OF AGRICUI.-TURAIv LABOURERS 

 IN ENGLAND AND WALES. 



OFFICIAI, SOURCE : 

 The I^abour Gazette, Vol. XXV, No. 7, I^ondon, July 1917. 



Information is obtained annually from the chairmen or clerks of a 

 I'arge number of Rural District Councils showing the rates of cash wages 

 most generally paid to the various classes of agricultural labourers not prov- 

 ided with board or lodging (i) in the rural district areas. Such rates, 

 while by no rnean'^ representing the labourers' total earnings, are useful as 

 a means of comparing one year with another, and in the table below a com- 

 parison is made between the weekly rates paid in January 1914 and in Ja- 

 nuary 1917. This period covers seven months prior to the outbreak of 

 war but as the movement in wages between January and August of 1914 

 was relatively very small, the rates for January 1914 can be regarded as 

 being substantially those prevalent immediately before the war. 



The figures in the table show the means of the rates given for those 

 rural districts in each country from v\hich information has been received 

 for both January 1914 and January 1917, and they cover over 80 per cent, 

 of the total number of rural districts in England and Wales. As has been 

 said, these rates do not represent total earnings but are only the nominal 

 rates of weekly wages. To arrive at the total wages it would be necessary 

 to add the value of allowances in kind, such as a free house, a potato ground, 

 milk, etc., and the extra cash earnings from piece work, overtime, special 

 harvest payments and in the case of men in charge of animals, such sources 

 as journey money, bonuses for calves reared and lamb money. These v? ry on 

 different farms and in individual cases, and the necessary particulars can 

 only be ascertained by enquiries on a large scale addressed to individual 

 families in every part of the country. Enquiries of this kind were last tm- 

 dertaken in 1907. A further enquiry was projected for the autumn of 1914 

 but was interrupted by the war. 



(i) In certain of the Welsh districts a considerable number of the ordinary agricultural la- 

 bourers are provided with food on weekdays but with no lodging. Particulars are given in the 

 second table. 



