THE RURAL PROBLEM 9 



vided with board and lodging (e.g., Cumberland, Westmore- 

 land, and Lancashire), and in counties in which extra pay- 

 ments for harvest, were high, or much piecework was done 

 (as in Lincolnshire, Suffolk. Hampshire, and Dorsetshire)." 

 In the case of horsemen, they ranged in 20 counties from 

 3s. to less than 4s., and in 16 others from 2s. to less than 3s. 

 ' In Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, the East and North Ridings of 

 Yorkshire, and in Lincolnshire the average cash rate of pay 

 did not reach 14s. per week," and " the average total 

 earnings in these districts was lower than the general average 

 for England as a whole." * For cattlemen the value of 

 extra earnings and allowances for England, as a whole, 

 averaged 3s., and for shepherds 3s. 8d. The average cash 

 wages for England, as a whole, were : Labourers, 14s. 6d. ; 

 horsemen, 15s. 3d. ; cattlemen, 16s. Id. ; shepherds, 15s. lid. 

 It is therefore difficult to calculate the exact value of the 

 labourers' weekty wage, especially as employers tend to 

 exaggerate the value of the payments in kind. " Further 

 inquiry," says Miss Davics, " revealed a strong tendency 

 amongst some of the employers to estimate the extras given 

 at a rather liberal rate." 



§2. Hours of Labour. 



There is no definite official information as to the hours 

 worked by agricultural labourers. The Board of Trade 

 report, quoted above estimates the working day for ordinary 

 labourers as eleven or twelve hours in summer, inclusive of 

 meal times ; while in winter it is generally limited by the 

 hours of daylight. Half an hour is usually allowed for 

 breakfast, and an hour for dinner. But the hours of horsemen, 

 cattlemen, and shepherds are admittedly longer than those 

 of the ordinary labourer. Horsemen begin their duties before 

 the rest of the farm is awake, and are often at work when the 

 other hands have gone home to tea. The first milking usually 

 necessitates rising in the very early hours of the morning; 

 and all men in charge of animals, whether horsemen, cattle- 

 men, or shepherds, have to bear a share of necessary Sunday 

 work, for which, very often, no extra wage is paid. Calving 



* Cd. 5460, p. xviii. 



