46 BELGIUM - INSURANCE AND THRIFT 



turer and above all a large manufacturer to keep a register of wages, and 

 enter in it those paid to his workmen, week by week, or fortnight by fortnight; 

 the manufacturer insured sends an extract of his register of wages every 

 three months to the insurance society and the premium is fixed in propor- 

 tion to the wages actually paid. 



Again, it is the wages earned by the victim of an accident in his work on 

 which the compensation due to him under the law is based ; but, in the case 

 of farmers and especially of small farmers, who predominate in the larger 

 part of Belgium, it is not possible to enforce the regular keeping of registers 

 and the farmer is not himself accustomed to keep them. So the agricul- 

 tural insurance premium is generally fixed per hectare, after valuation 

 made by the insurance company. 



In fixing the compensation due to the victim of an accident, account 

 must be taken of the real wages earned b}' him on the farm on which he is 

 employed but on small and medium sized farms many other things have to 

 be considered besides the wages in money : when the insured farmer keeps 

 registers of wages, the latter are regularly entered, but it must be taken 

 into account that in certain seasons the wages are higher than in others, 

 and again that the labourers at certain seasons, above all at harvest time, 

 work by contract, and that very often the work is done not only by the labour- 

 er, but by his wife and children who are not occupied the whole day. The 

 possible earnings of the labourer in this way must, therefore, be calculated ; 

 besides this, the farm servants generally have board and lodging at the farm- 

 er's; the farm labourer is very often given his board; very often he has 

 perquisites, regularly allowed, of which account must be taken in estimating 

 his wages. It is then necessary to calculate all he gets, which is generally 

 no easy matter; on the other hand, even in the case of wages in money actu- 

 ally paid by the day, it is very difficult for the insurer to ascertain the true 

 amount. For experience shows that often the farmer insured supports his 

 labourers who have suffered by accidents when they exaggerate the amount 

 of their wages ; it is not he who must pay the claim, but a large insurance so- 

 ciety, sometimes at a distance, and the farmer knows he wiU be popular 

 with his labourers if he succeeds in getting the largest possible compensation 

 paid to the man. Above all, in a country where the farmers have difficulty 

 in finding the labourers they require for their farm, is this a point that 

 cannot be overlooked. 



It would be necessary then to fix for a certain period, for classes of 

 labourers and for limited districts, the wages on which compensation for 

 accidents is to be based, after hearing the representatives of both the 

 masters and the labourers. 



Of course these wages taken as a basis must correspond with those actu- 

 ally gained, whether in money or in kind, but who knows whether for one 

 or other farmer who is now paying less than is usually paid in the district, 

 it might not serve as a salutory lesson, and induce him to pay his labourers 

 wages nearer to the usual standard? 



