1909.] Supply of Cider to Agricultural Labourers. 43 



If the practice were stopped, the evidence did not show 

 that it would prejudicially affect the supply of labour, but it 

 would not lead to any increase of wages, and it might even 

 resu|t in the men having less wages to take home, as they 

 would probably buy the cider for themselves. There was 

 also the risk that the abolition of the custom might lead to 

 farmers evading the law by selling their men 4J gallon barrels 

 of cider for a nominal sum, which would be an undesirable 

 practice. 



The Deputy Chief Constable of Worcestershire stated that 

 the practice was very common in busy seasons, but it was 

 not so prevalent as it used to be. He drew attention to the 

 difficulty of getting information which would substantiate a 

 prosecution, owing to the fact that in all cases the cider was 

 given by private verbal arrangement between the parties : 

 wages were the same whether cider was given or not, and 

 the cider was undoubtedly an attraction to the labourer. He 

 thought that, if the practice were stopped, the farmers would 

 often have great difficulty in finding sufficient labour. 



Mr. Willis Bund, Chairman of the Worcestershire Quarter 

 Sessions and of the County Council, stated that there were 

 two branches of this question, viz., the case of the ordinary 

 farm labourers and the case of the seasonal labourers {i.e., 

 hop and fruit pickers). In both cases there is a well-known 

 and recognised practice of giving cider. There is no ex- 

 pressed contract to this effect, but there is usually an implied 

 bargain ; and prosecutions had been successfully taken by 

 the County Authorities in several cases, despite the defence 

 that the cider was a free gift. That defence did succeed in 

 one case, viz., that of Long v. Crane, and was upheld by the 

 High Court, but in that case there was no doubt whatever 

 that the cider was a free gift. The difficulty, however, was 

 to get evidence as to the bargain between the farmer and his 

 labourers. On the larger farms and with the better class of 

 farmer the system of not giving cider and paying higher 

 wages is spreading, and spreading to the great advantage 

 of the people. It is only in out-of-the-way places and on the 

 old farms and among the smaller men that the practice con- 

 tinues to the same extent. The case, however, is different 

 with the seasonal labourer; he expects to have his cider or 



