ON THE APPEOPEUTION OF WAGES, ETC. 303 



The working classes appear thus to devote a larger proportion of 

 their incomes to luxuries than the middle and higher classes, a fact all 

 the more to be regretted since the working classes are thereby left with so 

 much less available for the necessaries of life. Luxuries may be indulged 

 in after the necessaries of life are fully provided for, and a proportional 

 surplus for saving has been secured. They should not be indulged in at 

 the expense of the necessaries of life, or before a proportional surplus for 

 saving has been secured. 



Thus classified we hare an average gross or personal expenditure of 

 28s. per week for each working man's family, and of 73s. a week for each 

 of the middle and higher classes' family, and an average net or national 

 expenditure of 23s. for each workman's family, and 55s. for each middle 

 and higher class family. 



In the previous report the income of the people of the United Kingdom 

 was estimated as follows : — • 



Income of the middle and higher 



classes ..... 



Income of non-income-tax payers, 



lower middle and working 



classes 



Assuming the average income of the working classes at 30s. per week 

 per family, including two earners each, their total earnings would amount 

 to 430,000,000Z., leaving 70,000,000L as the income of the lower middle 

 class. The classification made of the expenditure renders it necessary to 

 take the income of the working classes separately, and, by placing the 

 income against the expenditure, we have the following results .- — 



Working Classes Middle and Higher Classes 



£ £ 



Income . . . 430,000,000 . . . 578,000,000 



Expenditure . . 421,000,000 . , . 458,000,000 



Excess . 9,000,000 . . . 120,000,000 



Yonr Committee are conscious of the extreme difficulty of tracing 

 all the expenditure of the different classes of society. It should be 

 remarked, also, that some portion of the expenditure of the working 

 classes, such as the cost of food, clothing, &c., of domestic servants, 

 paupers, prisoners, is really disbursed by the middle and higher classes 

 or defrayed by public or local taxes. Allowing for a great margin of 

 error, which in the nature of the inquiiy it is all but impossible to 

 avert, the general results of the inquiry are not discouraging. It is 

 gratifying to know that the great bulk of the income of the people is 

 productively expended, and that though much is devoted to luxury, and 

 a goodly portion is wasted, still a handsome annual surplus remains for 

 reproduction, which goes to swell the capital of the nation. 



The subject under consideration is of the highest practical importance, 

 and its lessons cannot be too extensively diffused. It is erroneous to 

 imagine that it does not matter how money is expended, whether pro- 

 ductively or unproductively, provided it gives labour to the people, or 

 provided the money expended remains at home ; for while in the one case 

 the object produced remains, and, like capital, becomes serviceable for 



