WHAT OF THE HARVEST? 289 



were by no means received with universal satisfaction. 

 It was unfortunate that a low-paying county like Norfolk 

 should have been the first county for which an Order was 

 made. High as the wages appeared compared with the 

 ordinary pre-war wages, the labourer was no better off 

 save in one way ; he had his hours defined, and for the first 

 time in his life he could legally claim a definite overtime 

 rate. By a restriction of his hours of labour he was able 

 to earn more overtime, and in that manner he gained some- 

 thing. He at least gained more leisure. 



But the man in charge of stock was kept in his old state 

 of servitude by the unfortunate clause " customary hours." 

 I strenuously opposed this clause on my District Wages 

 Committee, as I knew that it w r ould give rise to much dissat- 

 isfaction, varying not only from county to county, and parish 

 to parish, but even from farm to farm. It bore grievously hard 

 upon cowmen in particular. I knew cowmen, for instance, 

 who were still getting up at 3.30 in the morning to milk, 

 and were kept at work until half-past five in the afternoon, 

 with hours on Sunday beginning at 4 a.m. and lasting until 

 ii a.m. , when there was a break of an hour for pious medita- 

 tion ; and then work again until 1.30. For working these 

 long hours in 1914 men were paid i a week in the county of 

 Surrey ! Such men under the Order were paid higher 

 wages than the ordinary labourer, but they \vere working 

 many more hours, and in spite of being generally considered 

 more highly skilled men, were paid less per hour. Though 

 there was a scarcity of labour, it was an injustice difficult 

 to combat, for cottages were scarcer than men, and most 

 cattlemen lived in farm-tied cottages. The hard task- 

 master still wielded great powers. Nevertheless, this was 

 remedied in 1919, when farm workers in most counties, 

 irrespective of their duties, came under the general Order 

 of fifty hours for summer, and forty-eight hours for winter. 

 The abolition of " customary hours " was a distinct im- 

 provement, welcomed by the best of the employers, and one 

 which made the worst employers not only shorten their hours 

 but improve their methods of organisation. 



It was an arduous task to raise the minimum higher 

 VOL. ii. u 



