ckiejly as regards the Production of Meat. 425 



proved implements, or by the regular hands, whose time is not 

 so fully engaged. Twenty-five years ago the universal rate of 

 payment was \0d. per day ; four years later, Avages advanced to 

 \s. ; eleven years later still, to 1.9. 'dd. ; and at present they stand 

 at \s. Qd, — in extreme cases at Is. Sd. 



I have hitherto confined my remarks to the wages paid to 

 man-ied men, who are constantly employed, as also to extra 

 farm hands : I now come to speak of those engaged by the half- 

 year. The statute hirings are held at all the principal market 

 towns twice in the year, namely, at Whitsuntide and Martinmas, 

 and at Carlisle four times, the additional terms being Candle- 

 mas and Lammas. The generality of servants are engaged by 

 the half-year ; but occasionally, some of them leave before the 

 expiration of their term, and farmers are obliged to repair to the 

 mid-term hirings at Carlisle to obtain others in their room. 

 Twenty years ago, the best servants in the market — those who 

 could plough, mow, sow, reap, thresh, hedge and ditch — were 

 engaged at 10/. to 12/. for the half-year ; second-class hands, at 

 7/. to 9/. ; and boys at 21. 10s. to 5/. Best women servants 

 obtained 5/. to 6/. ; second-class, 3/. 10^. to 4/. 10^. ; and young 

 girls, 1/. 10^. to 21. 10s. At the present time wages are 

 very high. I have been informed, on reliable authority, that 

 some selected servants have 24/. for the summer of 1874, while 

 20/. and 22/. are quite common rates. Second-class men get 

 16/. to 18/. ; and lads of 15 or 16 years of age, 9/. to 12/. For good 

 females there is great demand, those accustomed to cooking and 

 dairy work find no difficulty in securing 9/. to 10/. for the half- 

 year ; second-class, 6/. to 8/. ; and voung inexperienced girls, 

 4/. to 5/. 



With respect to the duties of servants, I shall make one or two 

 remarks. Firstly, with respect to males. The hours of labour 

 are short, compared with the times when wages were much lower. 

 Take the example of a ploughman. He attended to the cattle 

 in the morning while his horses fed ; helped to thresh corn 

 during his dinner hour, and frequently assisted in dressing grain 

 by candle-light in the long evenings of winter. In fact, to use 

 the words of an old hand, "he was never out of a job." Now 

 he has little to do but attend to his horses, and as he has great 

 facilities for feeding and keeping them in order, not only are 

 the hours much shorter, but his work is comparatively light. 

 Secondly, with respect to females. They used to have to per- 

 form all sorts of field-work, besides attending to cattle and pigs 

 in the yard ; indeed, they had harder times than the men- 

 servants, inasmuch as after working out of doors all day, they 

 had their household duties to perform at night, and seldom 



