588 



Accommodation for Pea-pickers. 



[OCT, 



the peas are larger. The pickers say that they can earn more 

 monev in the latter case than in the former. 



A moderately good picker can make about 4s. or even 

 more in a day of fourteen hours. The date and duration of 

 the green-pea harvest varies according to the weather and the 

 demand of the market. Generally, it lasts from about the 

 middle of June to the middle of July, but owing to the total 

 want of organisation of the pea-picking industry and the 

 uncertainty as to the date of the commencement of the 

 harvest, large numbers of immigrants invade the districts 

 affected about a fortnight before the peas are ready for pick- 

 ing. 



The conditions affecting the lodging of these workers are 

 discussed in Dr. Farrar's report, and he points out that 

 frequently no accommodation whatever is provided by the 

 farmer, that when shelter is provided in tents or in farm 

 buildings, it is generally inadequate and unsatisfactory, and 

 that the conditions of the industry are such as to entail severe 

 hardship and suffering on the pickers, and grave nuisance 

 on the districts which they invade. 



Certain circumstances connected with pea-picking, such as 

 the short duration of the harvest and the absence of organisa- 

 tion, make the problem of providing accommodation much 

 more difficult than in the case of either the hop or straw- 

 berry crops, and Dr. Farrar thinks it unlikely that material 

 improvement is to be anticipated in the conditions under 

 which pea-pickers work unless their employers are com- 

 pelled to provide the accommodation necessary for their wel- 

 fare and comfort. 



To insist on proper accommodation being provided cannot, 

 he points out, be regarded as a hardship on the employer or 

 an undue interference with the liberty of trade. The farmer 

 who grows peas is the means of bringing into his district a 

 very large number of persons for whom the existing accom- 

 modation of the district is insufficient. This invasion is a 

 very serious strain on the resources of the sanitary, poor law, 

 and police authorities, and, therefore, adds materially to the 

 burden of the rates. It is equitable to demand that he shall 

 use every available means to minimise this inconvenience. 



The report also deals with the employment of casual labour 



