290 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



than 305. after the Board's Order had been fixed for Nor- 

 folk. In my opinion the minimum rate should have been 

 fixed in 1918 at not lower than 2, which, considering the 

 rise in the cost of living, was barely equivalent to the L 

 a week which Mr. Rowntree showed us was absolutely 

 necessary to sustain physical efficiency before the war. 

 Farmers were rising on the high tide of their prosperity, and 

 if they were capable of paying 2 a week, as approximately 

 they did, in 1919, they were capable of paying 2 a week 

 in 1918. The Order of 305. for Norfolk was due to the mod- 

 eration of the workers' representatives, combined with the 

 lack of data at that time as to farmers' profits to convince 

 the appointed members that farmers would not be ruined 

 by a higher standard. 



Complaints were made both by farmers and workers 

 of the bias displayed by these appointed members of the 

 District Wages Committees, who, after all, were the jury 

 which tipped the scale one way or the other, and so decided 

 the rate. Although the District Wages Committees can 

 only recommend to the Central Board rates and hours, 

 their decisions are generally accepted with slight modi- 

 fications. The appointed members therefore stand as the 

 figure of Fate, uncomfortably balancing itself on the tight- 

 rope stretched between the two parties pulling with all 

 their strength. 



I find that there are one earl, three barons, four ladies; 

 of title, three " honourables," thirteen baronets and knights, 

 fourteen colonels, some landowners and quite a number of 

 Justices of the Peace, amongst those selected for pos- 

 sessing minds so equipoised that they can give an unbiased 

 judgment between capital and labour. 



It was natural that the workers viewed with misgiving 

 the decisions of men and women drawn almost entirely 

 from the employing class and felt that they were negotiating 

 with opponents who had strong allies. 1 



1 The inner history of the selection of appointed members should make 

 curious reading. For the most part names were suggested by the Lord 

 Lieutenant of each county. Now a Lord Lieutenant cannot be said to 

 possess a strong bias towards Labour, and feeling the scales would be 

 weighted against Labour I ventured (unofficially) to suggest one or two 



