TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION P. 



691 



Comparisons were made of the course of wages in the trades in Sheffield with 

 the course of the same trades in the United Kingdom, and of the ' weighted 

 average ' compared with the course of wages in the chief industries of the country 

 taken together, the latter comparison being as follows : — 



1850 '55 '60 '61 '71 '74 '77 '80 '83 '86 '91 '96 1900 '06 

 United Kingdom . 56 65 64 74 77 87 85 82 84 83 91 91 100 101 

 Sheffield . . 68 75 72 81 81 93 89 86 88 87 93 93 100 99 



The course of wages in Sheffield as indicated by the trades considered is very 

 similar to the course of wages in the United Kingdom, but wages in Sheffield 

 have not advanced by so great a percentage in half a century. 



There are a large number of trades mainly located in Sheffield, but for none of 

 these is the information self-consistent. The records for the file and saw trades are 

 examined as examples, and the writer urges that, as the evidence points to the 

 course of wages in these trades having differed so greatly from that of wages in the 

 great industries of the country, an investigation specially directed to filling the 

 gaps in the information and solving the difficulties should be undertaken. 



2. The Teaching of Economics in University Tutorial Classes. 

 By A. Mansbridge and R. H. Tawney. 



The growth and extent of the tutorial class movement was considered. (In 

 1907-08, two classes with sixty members ; in 1909-10, thirty-nine classes with 

 1,117 members; estimated in 1910-11 seventy classes with 2,000 members.) The 

 organisation, procedure, and membership of classes were illustrated by some 

 typical instances. The chief points to be remembered in connection with the 

 classes by a teacher of economics are (a) that the classes consist entirely of adults, 



(b) that they have considerable practical experience of economic problems, and 



(c) the students' previous reading and motives for attending the class. Hence 

 there is usually a more or less definite method of approach in the students' minds, 

 e.g., attention is concentrated on the effect of legal and economic institutions 

 rather than on the motives of individuals; economics are treated as part of general 

 political science ; there is a tendency to emphasise ' short run ' effects rather 

 than ' long run ' effects as more important to the manual worker. As to the 

 curriculum, a good deal of attention should be given to economic history as an 

 introduction to economic theory and modern problems ; the economic theory is 

 best treated comparatively ; theories are better than theory ; the importance is 

 insisted upon of explaining chief sources of information (statistical and others), 

 and methods of investigating practical problems. As to method pursued in classes, 



