702 



Labour on the Farm. 



[Nov., 



tions in the cost of living. The wages bills on all the 12 farms 

 have been totalled each year, and reduced to a figure which 

 corresponds to a standard of 100 for the year ending 31st March, 

 1914. The comparative costs of living have been deduced from 

 the index figures published each month in the Labour Gazette, 

 taking the prices prevailing in 1914 as 100, and adding to that 

 each year the average percentage increase during the period 

 1st April — 31st March. 



Table III. 



Comparison of Wages Bills in Yorkshire with Cost of Living. 



Year 



Comparative 

 Wages Bill 



Comparative 

 Cost of Living 



1918-14 



100 



100 



1914-15 



104 



104 



1915-16 



114 



129 



1916-17 



119 



154 



1917-18 



143 



182 



1918-19 



174 



200 



1919-20 



227 



218 



1920-21 



275 



255 



1921-22 



2 49 



203 



It will be seen that up to 31st March, 1915, the slight 

 increase in wages on the farms in question coincided 

 exactly with the slight increase in the cost of living. From then 

 up to the end of March, 1918, the cost of living rose much more 

 quickly than the rise in wages, by which time wages had risen 

 43 and the cost of living 82 per cent. Judging from this stand- 

 point, the Wages Board was not appointed a day too soon. 



From then up to March, 1921, farm wages rose more rapidly 

 than the cost of living, the two curves crossing approximately in 

 January, 1920. 



When the Wages Board was dissolved in 1921, and Concilia- 

 tion Committees were set up under the Corn Production Acts 

 (Repeal) Act, 1921, the percentage increase in the wages paid 

 on the farms was approximately 20 points above the percentage 

 increase in the cost of living. By April, 1922, when the cost 

 of living was falling more quickly than the wages on the farms, 

 there was a difference of 45 points in favour of the increased 

 wages. 



It would appear therefore that while the Wages Board Awards 

 up to April, 1920, were more than justified, the last increase in 

 October, 1920, could hardly be looked upon in the same light. 

 It is, however, only right to bear in mind that what the farm 

 worker, looking at the matter from his own point of view, might 



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