578 



An Agricultural Index Number. [Oct., 



similarly agreed that the present rates should continue until 

 the 5th November. The Staffordshire Committee has, however, 

 decided on a new system by which wages are to be paid in 

 future on an hourly basis, the agreement arrived at by the 

 Committee being that for the period from the 1st October, 1921, 

 to the 29th January, 1922, the minimum w^age for adult able- 

 bodied male workers should be at the rate of 9Jd. per hour, 

 and that a minimum of 50 hours per week be worked, leaving 

 employers and workers to make mutual arrangements with 

 regard to any further Jiours ; Sunday work to be paid at the rate 

 of Is. per hour. 



* * * * * « 



The interest which has been aroused by the use made of the 



Cost of Living ' ' Index Number in recent discussions on wages 



Ary Ar.i.i/»iiu«,.«i famiUarisod the public with the idea of 



x«.j -KT I. Index Number which expresses in a 



Index Number. . i . . . . 



single iigure the variations in the prices oi 



a number of commodities. A figure of this kind which is of con- 

 siderable interest to agriculturists has for some years past been 

 prepared annually by the Ministry of Agriculture, and more 

 recently this annual figure has been supplemented by a Monthly 

 Number which aims at recording from month to month the 

 changes in the prices of the principal articles which the farmer 

 sells. These index numbers are based on the wholesale prices 

 recorded week by week of agricultural produce, the average prices 

 in the years 1911-13 being taken as a basis of comparison. The 

 method of calculation remains the same throughout and therefore 

 enables a fair comparison to be made of one year with another, 

 hut it is important to remember that the number merely repre- 

 sents the average increase or decrease which has taken place in 

 a number of very different commodities, allowance being made 

 as far as possible for the varying importance of the articles sold. 

 Thus, as the sale of cattle is, on the whole, a more important 

 item in the farmers' budget than the sale of wheat, greater allow- 

 ance is made for changes in the former item than in the latter. 

 The importance given to the different articles does not, however, 

 vary from year to year, as that would destroy the value of the 

 index number for purposes of comparison, and in practice the 

 change which would be introduced by an attempt to adjust the 

 weights to the total quantities produced has been found to be 

 insignificant. 



Taking the average prices during the basic years 1911-13 as 

 100, the average increase per cent, in each of the subsequent 

 years has been found to be as follows : — 



