66 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



lightly regarded by the apologists for the 

 existing scale, viz., the inclusion of overtime 

 rates. Harvest money and hay money are 

 payments made for abnormal effort, and in 

 most cases long hours of overtime. If the 

 spokesman of a Farmers' Club or Chamber 

 of Agriculture points to an extra payment of 

 2 7 for the harvest, he forgets to tell you 

 that under decent conditions of weather his 

 men will begin their work the moment the 

 dew is dried and continue it long after the sun 

 has set. Sometimes you will see harvesters 

 hard at work till ten or eleven o'clock in the 

 evening. If we leave overtime and special 

 " allowances " out of the calculation the 

 normal wages of the agricultural labourer in 

 England sink to a still more miserable level 



Ordinary labourers . . . . 14/9 



Men in charge of horses . . 16/2 



Cattle men . . . . . . 16/5 



Shepherds . . . . . . 16/- 



In the south midland, south-western and 

 eastern counties, the average wages of an 

 ordinary labourer do not exceed 13/6 a 

 week, and in Oxfordshire, the worst paid 

 county in England, sink to 13/- ! Even in 

 districts where the competition of factories, 

 mines, docks, etc., tends to raise agricultural 



