WHAT OF THE HARVEST? 287 



a worker had to leave his situation so that the farmer's son 

 could take his place instead of going into the army, and often 

 the worker was married with a family, whilst the son of the 

 farmer was a single young man. I could state many cases 

 where that was done. 



" But I must go back a few years, as there are one or two 

 things that I have omitted. There was the Old Age Pensions 

 Act, and I was thinking of the trouble the workers were put to 

 to get it. I well remember when my father reached the age of 

 seventy the Pension Officer called to see him to make sure that 

 he was not a wealthy man ; asked him if he had any cash in the 

 Bank. What a lot the poor agricultural labourer ought to have 

 done out of their poor wages after bringing up a family ! Far- 

 mers became very thoughtful about a labourer's age, and would 

 do all they could to help them to get the Old Age Pension, and 

 when they got it for them they hired them at lower wages. 



" I well remember one poor old worker, nearly eighty years 

 of age, still forced to work to keep himself alive ; but one day 

 he could not be seen in the field. So a search was made and the 

 poor old chap was found in the hedge dying, but as he was only 

 an agricultural labourer no notice was taken of him. 



" When the war started the recruiting officer would tell the 

 farm worker if he joined the army it would be a holiday for him ; 

 no food or clothes to buy, and he would be able to see the lands 

 beyond the seas, and many of the employers went so far as to 

 promise the men half their wage and to look after their wives 

 and families while they were away ; but these promises were 

 soon forgotten. Farm workers began to be attracted by higher 

 wages elsewhere, but the Labour Exchanges soon stopped 

 all that, and when tribunals were set up as soon as a man was 

 exempt from service he was threatened with military service 

 if he asked for higher wages. 



" In 1917, when a few of us held our first meeting in Westfield, 

 many farmers refused to pay the minimum wage, but as the guns 

 still roared, and the blank places in the battle lines had to be 

 filled and labour became scarce they had to pay the 323. per week 

 for Sussex, and were compelled to plough the land, though many 

 of them would not do that grow food for the people without 

 the compulsory order. Though the cost of living went up twice 

 as high as before the war, and the farmers were making large 

 profits they still said they could not afford to pay 325. Now 

 they have to pay 385. 6d. 



" But the slaughter is finished and the brave lads are at home 

 again, though not all of them that went away. . . . But 

 oh, how we all longed for the return of those who did come back, 

 that after all the horrors and hardships that they have had to 

 endure, they would return to a better England than when 

 they left. But what do we find ? . . ." 



