THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 61 



of the dairy industry, and it is one of the most 

 important factors in favour of the Siberian dairies 

 that labour is cheaper there than in any other 

 butter-producing country in the world, the labourer 

 receiving about one-twelfth of the wages paid for 

 the same class of work in Canada. Official reports 

 speak of £7 8s. gd. as the annual wage of a good 

 Siberian workman, while inferior labour is paid as 

 little as thirty roubles per annum (£3 3s. gd.) This 

 annual wage is about equal to the sum earned by a 

 Canadian workman in one month. The growth of 

 the dairy industry will, however, have the effect of 

 raising wages considerably above the standard 

 mentioned above. Thus I was informed by a 

 Danish expert, who had opened dairies in Southern 

 Siberia, that he paid one rouble (2s. i|d.) per day 

 of twenty-one hours for dairy hands in June, July, 

 and August, when the milk is most plentiful, and 

 half a rouble (is. o|d.) per day of twelve hours 

 during the remaining nine months. The exception- 

 ally cheap labour, which works out at about 7s. 

 per week of six days (seventy-two hours), will be 

 a very important item in favour of the Siberian 

 dairies, and will give them an immense advantage 

 over those of other countries. As things are at 

 present, the peasantry, according to their own 

 modest notions, are prospering exceedingly, and if 

 we look into the matter a little more closely, we 

 shall see that they are, indeed, doing very well at 

 the business — a sure guarantee of increase in the 

 production. A cow earns from 8d. to gd. per day 

 by supplying one vedro ' of milk, that being the 

 average price. During the winter months the 

 quantity is reduced to three-quarters of a vedro. 

 This represents from 3s. 6d. to 5s. 3d. per week, 



■ One vedro = 270 gallons. 



