712 



Ageicl'ltueal Wages Board. 



[Nov., 



when and where it can be carried out under suitable sanitary 

 conditions and without danger to public health or interference 

 with the amenities of the district. 



At a meeting of the Agricultural Wages Board on the 23rd 

 September, Mr. Acland presented a report from the Board's 

 . . , Committee on " Cottages," which was 



™ ^ unanimously adopted . This report had been 



° specially prepared m consequence oi the 



request of the Minister of Agriculture that the Board should 

 reconsider their policy of allowing the provision of a cottage to 

 a worker by his employer to be recognised as a " benefit or 

 advantage " in part payment of minimum wages in lieu of pay- 

 ment in cash. It gives a considered presentation of the whole 

 position from the Board's point of view, and recommends that 

 the Board adhere to their previous policy in the matter. 



The report sets out, in some detail, the action which the Board 

 has taken, with the reasons which influenced them, and also 

 gives reasons for their adherence at the present time to the 

 same policy. It will probably be cf use to many persons through- 

 out the country who have failed to appreciate the exact effect 

 of the Board's Order, and its relation to the provisions of the 

 Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act. It 

 brings out clearly the point which is sometimes overlooked, 

 namely, that the Orders of the Board have no direct bearing on 

 the rents of cottages other than cottages which are provided by 

 the employer to the worker as part of the contract for his ser- 

 vices. Where farm workers live in cottages which are not held 

 from the employer, such cottages do not, of course, come within 

 the scope of the Board's Order. The report is pubhshed in full 

 in the issue of the Wages Board Gazette for 1st October, 1920. 



It has been decided to hold a fourth National Rat Week 

 from the 1st to 6th November. The object of these rat weeks, 

 National generally known, is to secure, 



Rat Week ^^^^^^^^^ ^'^^ simultaneous action 



throughout the country, the largest possible 

 destruction of rats. The responsibility for the destruction of 

 rats rests by Statute upon the occupiers of premises, and it is 

 hoped that farmers will take part in these periodical rat weeks, 

 which should, if supported by the united action of the com- 



