1 907. J 



Accommodation of Hop-Pickers. 



i 1 1 



only fair," he says, " to record my impression that this accom- 

 modation is not, on the whole, generally unsatisfactory. There 

 is need for improvement, both generally and in particular 

 instances ; but I gather that the conditions are already much 

 improved as compared with those existing 30 years ago. This 

 improvement has been continuous, and is still in progress." 



As already pointed out, the tendency for the hop-growing 

 industry to fall into the hands of farmers growing hops regularly 

 from year to year on a large scale, and possessed of capital, 

 tends to operate in the direction of securing better conditions 

 for hop-pickers. 



Dr. Farrar considers that it is of great importance that 

 bye-laws should be adopted in any district in which hops 

 are grown on an extensive scale, and that the Local Government 

 Board's Model Bye-laws represent the minimum standard 

 in respect of health, decency and comfort for hop-pickers. 

 "There appears to be an impression," he says, "in districts 

 where these bye-laws are not in force that they constitute a 

 very stringent code. For instance, the chairman of a certain 

 Rural District Council recently, in opposing their adoption 

 in his district, referred to them more than once as the ' cast- 

 iron regulations of the Local Government Board.' This 



"i gentleman is himself a large grower of hops, and the 

 provision made by him for his pickers is on an adequate scale, 

 and such as to comply in essential respects with the require- 

 ments of the Model Bye-laws ; but there are farms in his 

 district in which these requirements are not fulfilled, and 

 t<> which they might with great advantage be applied. It 

 cannot seriously be contended by anyone acquainted with 

 the conditions of the hop-picking industry that the demands 

 of the Model Bye-laws are unduly stringent, nor is it a common 

 experience of sanitary administration in rural districts that 

 bye-laws arc applied with 'cast-iron 1 rigidity." 



The Report also contains some remarks on the accommodation 

 for the temporary labourers employed in picking fruit and 

 vegetables, and it is suggest, d that similar bye-laws should 

 be adopted in those districts where these crops are grown in 

 quantities sufficient to require the introduction of immigrant 

 pickers to harvest them. 



