1909.] Accommodation for Pea-pickers. 



537 



matter, from which it appears that the total area on which 

 peas are so picked does not exceed 10,000 or 12,000 acres. 



The county in which the largest area is planted with peas 

 is Lincolnshire, in which 23,836 acres were so planted in 

 1907, but Dr. Farrar ascertained that only in two rural 

 districts, and in these only to a very slight extent, are green 

 peas picked on such a scale as to require the assistance of 

 imported labour to supplement local labour. The few persons 

 so employed are of the vagrant class. Vagrant labour is also 

 employed to some extent for the green-pea harvest in the 

 neighbourhood of Wisbech, Isle of Ely. 



Practically the only counties in which the employment oi 

 immigrant labour for the green-pea harvest constitutes a 

 problem of serious magnitude are Essex and Worcestershire, 

 the area amounting to 4,700 acres in Essex and 4,100 acres 

 in Worcestershire.* 



In these counties the green-pea harvest is gathered to a 

 small extent by local, but principally by immigrant, 

 labourers. 



These latter are of different classes : some are casual 

 labourers or persons temporarily unemployed; others are 

 persons habitually leading a vagrant life, either Romanies 

 or English nomads, who work from May to October through 

 a cycle of fruit and vegetable harvests, and in the winter 

 live by hawking, peddling, or sometimes navvying; others 

 are mere tramps, who seldom work, but wander from one 

 casual ward to another, and eke out their livelihood by 

 begging. 



It is difficult to determine the exact number of persons 

 engaged in pea-picking in Essex and Worcestershire, but 

 Dr. Farrar estimates that in Worcestershire from 3,000 to 

 4,000 and in Essex from 4,000 to 5,000 are so employed. 



The wages paid are — in Worcestershire about $d. to 8d. 

 per u pot," equal to about 40 lb., and in Essex is. to is. 6d. 

 per "bag," equal to about 80 lb. The rate varies according 

 to the size of the peas. For example, in Essex is. 6d. per 

 u bag" may be paid at the beginning of the season, when the 

 peas are small, but is. per "bag " as the season advances and 



* Reports to the Local Government Board on Public Health and Medical Subjects. 

 New Series. No. n. Price 4c! . 



