208 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



weekly supply of beer or cider, when given regularly, was 

 worth about a shilling a week. As to perquisites, they 

 depended so much upon the individual good-nature or 

 otherwise of employers that they could not be valued for 

 the purposes of a general summary of emoluments. Mr. 

 Stanhope considered that the ordinary weekly wages 

 might be taken as the true test of an agricultural labourer's 

 earnings in any part of the country. 



BEDFORDSHIRE. 



Taking the county throughout, the wages averaged from 

 eleven to twelve shillings a week for weekday work, but there 

 was some extra payment for Sunday work, sometimes with beer, 

 reckoned at one smiling a week. If working by the piece the 

 labourer was able, adding the value of his daily beer, to earn 

 thirteen and sixpence a week. Cottage rents in the Bedford 

 and Woburn Unions ranged from one shilling to two and sixpence 

 a week, sometimes being as high as three and sixpence. The 

 pauperism was equal to 7-2 per cent, of the population. 



BERKSHIRE. 



Average wages in this county were from ten to eleven shillings 

 per week ; but in the Witney Union they were only nine shillings 

 a week. Extra allowance, however, was given during harvest, 

 with beer for carting. Cottage rents averaged from a shilling to 

 eighteenpence a week. The Poor Law returns for Berkshire 

 gave the average wages in the Hungerford Union as nine shillings 

 a week ; in the Farringdon Union as ten shillings, and in the 

 Wantage Union also as ten shillings. When engaged in piece- 

 work eleven shillings a week could be earned. Carters, in some 

 cases, were allowed a daily quart of small beer ; and, in addition 

 to that, the rent of, or provision of, a cottage. The pauperism 

 in this county was reckoned at 6-5 per cent, of the population. 



BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 



In Buckinghamshire the wages ranged from eleven to thirteen 

 shillings a week. Sunday work was only performed occasionally, 

 but, when required, there was some extra payment. By piece- 

 work a little more could be earned, and the extra amount, reckon- 

 ing in the value of the beer allowance, ranged from eighteen- 

 pence to half a crown a week. As already stated, the earnings of 

 carters are usually above those of ordinary labourers, and in this 

 county the difference was placed at two shillings ; so that, 

 practically, a carter in Buckinghamshire could earn fourteen 

 shillings a week. Cottage rents varied from a shilling to half a 

 crown ; but in some cases the men paid three and sixpence a 



