78 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



§ 2. Tpie Wages op Agricultural Labourers. 



Returns furnished by the District Inspectors of the Royal Irish Con- 

 stabulary and by a number of representative farmers p^ove considerable 

 bariation in the rates of wages paid in 191 5, even within each count5^ It is 

 telieved however that the following table shows the general rate for that 

 year in the case of male agricultural labourers who did not live in free cot- 

 ages or receiv^e any allowances in kind. 



The value and number of allowances, where these are given in addition 

 to a money wage, vary considerably, largely in accordance with the charac- 

 ter of the farming, whether it be grazing, tillage or mixed farming. The 

 allowances may include a free house and garden, a potato ground, milk, 

 fuel or grazing, or some or all of these ; and their estimated value is from 

 about 4s 6d to 5s 6d or 6s a week. When full board and lodging are given 

 they are held to be worth from about 8s 6d to los 3^ a week. 



Owing partly to the scarcity of labour, but largely to the further in- 

 crease in the cost of living, the general rates of weekly wages in 1915 were 

 higher by from is to is 6d., and the values of the weekly allowances by 

 about IS 6d, than the corresponding values in 1914. 



The wages of temporary labourers also advanced in 1915 as compared 

 with 1914. For men the usual daily wages in 1915 were from 2S gd to 3s 

 6d at sowing time, from 3s ^d to 3s Cjd during the haymaking, from 3s 6d 

 to 4s during the corn harvest, a ad from 2s gd to 3s 3^ during potato dig- 

 ging. For women they were from 2s to 2S 6d for sowing, from 2s to 2s gd 

 for haymaking, from 2s 6d to 3s during the corn harvest and from 2s to 2S 

 3d for potato digging. The daily rates for casual winter work were from is 

 6d to 2s 6d. 



§ 3. The Migration of Agricultural Labourers. 



a) The Number of Migrants. 



In spite of the scarcity of agricultural labourers a number of them mi- 

 grate each year for a season only, generally to Great Britain but in some 



