io A UNIONIST AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



raising wages to a subsistence level, in order 

 that the labourer and his family may be ade- 

 quately nourished, that the labourer may thereby 

 be able to render efficient service, that his 

 children may be in a condition to benefit pro- 

 perly by their education, and that the labourer 

 may be able to pay a commercial rent for his 

 cottage. The most practical method of raising 

 wages is by the establishment of Agricultural 

 Wages Boards as proposed by the Agricultural 

 Employment Boards Bill. 



In dealing with this proposal, several points 

 of paramount importance must be noticed. 



i. This is not a proposal to establish a 

 minimum flat rate of wacres throughout the 

 country by Act of Parliament. It is a proposal 

 to extend the working of the Trade Boards Act, 

 of which the chief author was Lord Milner, to 

 agricultural districts where wages are lower than 

 those obtaining in districts where the soil and 

 other conditions are not more favourable for agri- 

 cultural development. Further, the new rate 

 will not be fixed by Parliament at all, but by 

 local joint Boards sitting in conference under an 

 impartial chairman. 



2. The Bill gives to these Boards a wide 

 discretion, and the gradual raising of wages 

 would be accompanied by an increased efficiency 

 on the part of the worker. 



3 The Bill provides for the exemption of 



