GENERAL SYSTEM OF LABOUR. 79 



It is customary for indoor servants in Wales, those 

 lodged and boarded in the farmhouses, to get such 

 advances of wages as they require, but they are not 

 allowed to draw beyond what is owing to them. The 

 periods of payments of the married labourers living in 

 cottages is either weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. In 

 the case of small farmers, when the servants are engaged 

 by the week, the whole of a week's wage is not always 

 paid, because there is often an " account " against the 

 man for goods in the shape of butter, cheese, or other 

 supplies of food ; and, in such cases, there is a half- 

 yearly settling up. 



In the case of regularly engaged weekly-paid men, 

 employment of some sort is generally found for them 

 under cover when the weather prevents outdoor occu- 

 pation. The same arrangement does not extend to 

 casual men who lose pay for times when they cannot 

 work out of doors ; but when these casual men belong 

 to the class having cottages in the same district, and 

 working small holdings of their own, they can, not un- 

 frequently, find something to do in their own places. 

 In certain districts, however, where there may be a great 

 scarcity of labour, farmers deem it discreet to find some- 

 thing never very difficult for the men to do rather 

 than run the risk of losing them should they be sent 

 back without work on, for instance, a very wet day. 

 If, however, men on weekly engagements become sick, 

 it is very unusual for them to be paid, and then they 

 have to fall back either on the friendly societies or 

 sick benefit clubs to which they may belong. Un- 

 married indoor servants join such institutions as a rule. 

 There are exceptions to this wise precaution local to 

 certain districts, such as Anglesea and the western parts 

 of Carnarvonshire. 



