LABOUR AND WAGES. 639 



day, the wages of the upper and under workmen were generally 

 put together, but are sometimes separated, in which case the 

 under workman gets the wages of the artisan's help. Now most 

 of my evidence as to sawyers' wages comes from the country, 

 these workmen being rarely employed in London, and in the 

 case of these persons the rise is almost exactly fifty per cent. 

 But it is plain from the prices paid for piece-work, that a pair 

 of sawyers were considered to be able to saw a hundred (120) 

 feet superficial of plank or board in a day. The assessments 

 occasionally put the price by the piece at a lower rate than 

 that by the day, and the averages imply that this valuation 

 was effective. The same result in a slight degree is exhibited 

 in fifteenth-century prices of labour, and those for the greater 

 part of the sixteenth century (vol. iv. p. 524). In the 

 present case the difference is even more marked. It should 

 be added, that sawing plank is better paid, whether by day 

 or by piece, than sawing board. The work of cutting thick 

 slabs must, I conclude, have been more laborious than the 

 other. 



The plumber is the most highly paid of all artisans. His 

 wages are considerably higher than those of the best carpenter 

 and the best mason. This fact I presume is more due to 

 the comparative rarity of the employment than to the relative 

 skill of this artisan, for he is generally employed, when paid 

 by wages, in laying and mending lead roofs, the preparation of 

 the lead, when the employer does not buy it ready rolled, 

 being generally paid for by piece. 



There are a few entries of joiners' wages. It is not always 

 easy to distinguish this kind of workman from the better class 

 of carpenters, such for instance as those who are employed 

 in building organ-cases, or similarly difficult work. But though 

 I cannot draw complete decennial averages, I have little 

 doubt that the average rate of wages in the first and the last 

 sixty years indicates with sufficient precision what was the 

 remuneration which this kind of artisan received. 



The tiler or slater, and the tiler or slater and man, whose 



