312 Wages of Agricultural Labourers. [aug., 



of brewing barley from a technical and agricultural point of view, 

 with especial regard to its content of nitrogen, will be considered 

 by several sections, while a number of other papers deal with 

 malting and brewing. In view of the importance of the potato 

 crop on the Continent, several sections propose to consider the 

 measures to be employed for maintaining the successful cultiva- 

 tion of potatoes in Europe, and avoiding the consequences of 

 over-production on the one hand or of bad crops on the other. 

 The importance of cereal cultivation in Central Europe will also 

 be brought forward. The best means of combating tuberculosis 

 in cattle, the sanitary control of dairy products, principles of 

 pig-breeding, and other matters relating to live stock and dairying, 

 as well as poultry and bee-keeping, will be included in Section IV.; 

 while the other sections cover such subjects as meteorology, 

 drainage, sugar, the starch and spirit industries, prevention of 

 plant diseases, forestry, fresh-water fisheries, vine-growing, and 

 fruit cultivation. 



The rates of wages of farm labourers in England and Wales, 



according to a report in the Labour Gazette, showed, on the 



whole, a very slight downward tendency in 



Wag^es of IQOS, but in the p;reat majority of rural 

 Agrricultural , , , u t c . 



Labourers in districts there was no change. In bcot- 



1905 and 1906. land the reports received show a rather 

 more marked downward movement than in 

 the case of England and Wales. So far as is indicated by 

 reports received during July, agricultural wages in England and 

 Wales have remained practically stationary in 1906. 



In the table given on the next page the changes in wages 

 disclosed by these returns are given in combination with the 

 estimated number of agricultural labourers in the rural districts 

 affected* for the ten years 1896- 1905. 



The figures show that in the period 1897-1901 there was a 

 decided upward movement in agricultural wages. In the three 

 following years (1902-4) the upward movement was far less 

 marked, while in 1905 there was a slight downward tendency. 



The estimated net decrease in 1905 in the districts in which 



* Further particulars respecting the method of computing changes in agricultural 

 wages are given in Report on Changes of Rates of Wages and Hours of Labour,^ 

 Cd. 2,674 of 190^5- Wyman and Sons, Ltd. Price 7d. 



