MINIMUM WAGE ESSENTIAL 77 



agriculturists from the Services to enter agricultural 

 employment. But we agree with their advice, subject 

 to one very important exception which, in our judgment, 

 would prove fatal to success. They think that the 

 wages question may be left to take care of itself, and 

 are definitely opposed to any minimum-wage legisla- 

 tion. We believe it to be essential, and the Chairman 

 agrees with us. Without it we do not think any ap- 

 preciable number of townsmen will be attracted to the 

 land. And, indeed, we fear that without it we may 

 see a serious exodus from this country even of those 

 ex-Service men who were previously employed in agri- 

 culture, thus increasing the already grave shortage of 

 agricultural labour at the end of the war due to casual- 

 ties, emigration, etc., which we agree with the Majority 

 in estimating at not less than 80,000. Should this 

 happen it would be a national disaster. 



The passage in the Majority Report in which the Chairman 

 assents to the views of the Minority as to a mininium wage 

 is as follows : 



"152. Some of our members (the Chairman, Mr. Roberts, 

 Mr. Scott, and Mr. E. G. Strutt) are strongly of opinion that 

 it will be necessary to give ex-Service men some guarantee 

 that wages will not fall below such a minimum standard as 

 will enable the industrious man to keep himself and his family 

 in physical health and efficiency, and that unless this is done 

 sufficient men will not be attracted to agricultural employ- 

 ment. These members consider that if the prices of farm 

 produce fall after the war to approximately their pre-war 

 level, farmers may make a corresponding reduction in wages, 

 and this may result in the total earnings of agricultural 

 labourers in many parts of the country falling below a living 

 standard. The fear of this will be sufficient to prevent 

 many of the men who have left the farm since the outbreak 

 of war returning to agricultural employment, especially after 

 having received Army food and pay, separation allowances, 



