PROPOSAI^ FOR lyAND REFORM III 



attached to the improvement of the condition of the agricultural labourers 

 than to promoting the welfare of the farmers and that the interests of 

 the farmers were given priority over those of the landlords. This point 

 of view determines the order of the Report, which deals successively with 

 the wages and hours of labour ; the rural hoiising problem and the con- 

 ditions under which the labourer holds his cottage ; the question of access 

 to the land and the means whereby the labourer can rise from his pos- 

 ition as a wage-earner ; the cultivation of the soil and the reasons why 

 much land is at present undercultivated ; compensation for damage done 

 by game ; the tenure of land (including the questions of security of ten- 

 ure and compensation for improvements) and the question of rural rating. 

 It also touches Hghtly on transit, credit, co-operation and education. 



As to the method of the enquiry, which must also be borne in mind 

 in estimating the value its conclusions, the Comim"ttee studied, in the 

 first place, the many oihcial documents which are available, such as stat- 

 istics and reports of ParUamentary Commissions. The information so 

 obtained was supplemented by a special investigation. The country was 

 divided into twelve districts for each of which a Head Investigator was 

 appointed, with instructions to prepare a general report himself and to 

 obtain answers from representative persons {o two carefully prepared 

 Hsts of questions. To the first of these, which related principally to wages, 

 hours of labour, housing and allotments, 2,759 replies were received. The 

 second dealt with such matters as conditions of tenure, game and the acqui- 

 sition of land and was filled in by 866 persons. 



Let us now see what are the conclusions of the Report in regard to 

 the various subjects with which it deals. 



(a) The Labourers' Wages. 



An exhaustive official iuquir.v into the wages of agricultural labourers 

 was made in 1907, from wliich it resulted that in that year the average 

 weekly earnings (including, in addition to the weekly cash wages, all special 

 payments for piecework, harvesting, etc., and all allowances in kind) of 

 ordinary agricultural labourers were over i8s. in 16 counties of England, 

 between T7S. and i8s. in 8 counties and under 17s. in 15 counties. The 

 highest average was in Durham, where it reached 21s. gd. and the lowest 

 in Oxfordshire, where it was only 14s. iid. These figures, it should be 

 noted, refer only to able-bodied adult labourers in regular employment. 



The Committee presents a calculation, based on these figures and the 

 Census Returns of 190 1 from which it appears that over 60 per cent, of 

 all the ordinary agricultural labourers in England between the ages of 

 twenty and sixty-fi.ve were in receipt of total earnings of less than i8s. 

 per week. It is admitted that the calculation cannot pretend to scientific 

 accuiacy, but it is claimed that the deduction is substantially correct. 



Men in charge of animals (horsemen, cattlemen, shepherds) receive 

 somewhat higher wages, but these higher rates, it is stated, represent 

 payment for additional as well as for more skilled work. In Wales and 



