42 Supply of Cider to Agricultural Labourers, [april, 



The object of the statutes known as the Truck Acts is to 

 ensure the payment of wages entirely and exclusively In 

 current coin of the realm and not by 

 Supply of Cider to means of ds Qr Qther substitutes for 

 Agricultural ? , , ... 



Labourers. money, although a provision in the 



Truck Act of 1887 allows a cottage to 

 be given as part wages in the agricultural industry, and 

 another section of the same Act allows food and non-intoxi- 

 cating drink to be given to agricultural labourers. 



The operation of these Acts has recently been under the 

 consideration of a Departmental Committee, and in their 

 Report [Cd. 4442, price is. 3d.] they deal at some length 

 with the supply of cider to agricultural labourers, a point 

 on which they received evidence from Worcestershire, from 

 representatives both of farmers and of the Local Authorities. 



The representatives of the Worcestershire Farmers' Asso- 

 ciation and the Worcestershire Chamber of Agriculture in- 

 formed the Committee that prior to the passing of the Truck 

 Act of 1887 it was usual for farmers in making a contract 

 to agree to give so much wages and so many quarts of cider a 

 day. After the passing of the Act, which allowed only non- 

 intoxicating drink to be given as part of wages to agricultural 

 labourers, attention was called to the illegality of the practice 

 of contracting to give intoxicating liquor as part of wages. 

 The result was that the farmers stopped the practice of con- 

 tracting to give cider as part of wages, and wages increased 

 by about 2s. a week. Cider is now only given occasionally 

 to labourers, more especially at harvest time when long hours 

 are being worked, but it is a free gift and not part of wages, 

 and the cider which is made on the farm has little or no 

 commercial value; 3d. per week being the average cost. It 

 was admitted that some farmers do not conform to the cus- 

 tom ; and that if labour were not plentiful, those who did not 

 give cider would be prejudiced. Cider no doubt was an 

 attraction to labourers; they often preferred it to money, and 

 men have refused to work overtime for money, and have 

 demanded and got drink instead. The witnesses thought 

 that more work was done when cider was given and that the 

 practice did not encourage the habit of drinking, and had no 

 deleterious effects on health, physique, or mental faculties. 



