202 



AGRICULTURAL AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



Wages of Agricultural Labour in 1897. 



A report* recently issued by the Labour Department ot 

 the Board of Trade contains information, compiled, as in the 

 case of previous years, from returns furnished by the chair- 

 men of Rural District Councils in England and AVales, as ta 

 the current rates of weekly cash wages in January and June, 

 1897, of ordinary agricultural labourers, exclusive of piece- 

 work earnings, extra payments for hay and corn harvests, 

 and of all extra allowances in cash and kind. 



The returns do not include men exclusively engaged with 

 the charge of animals, such as cattlemen, carters, horsemen, 

 and sfiepherds, who are generally paid higher wages and 

 obtain more perquisites ; hut it has been assumed for the 

 purpose of calculation, as in previous reports, that where the 

 predominant rates of wages of ordinary labourers have 

 changed in a district, a similar change has taken place in 

 the wages of all classes of agricultural labourers. 



The particulars of Increases and Decreases in wages in 

 England and Wales in the years 1895, 1896, and 1897 are 

 summarised in the following table : — 





Changes in 1897 as 

 compared with 1896. 



Changes in 1896 as 

 compared with 1895. 



Changes in 1895 as 

 compared with 1894. 



Total 

 Number. 



Increase (+) 

 or 



Decrease ( - ) 



in Weekly 

 Cash Wages. 



Total 

 Number. 



Increase (+) 

 or 



Decrease ( - ) 



in Weekly 

 Cash Wages. 



Total 

 Number. 



Increase (+) 

 or 



Decrease ( - ) 



in Weekly 

 Cash Wages. 



Increases - 

 Decreases - 



82,453 

 4)932 



s. d. 



- 0 6 



58,578 

 40.751 



s. d. 



+ 08^ 

 - 0 10 



27,556 

 92,334 



s. d. 



+ 0 61 

 - 0 8f 



87,385 



+ 06^ 



99,329 



+ 0 I 



119, 890 



- 0 si 



The number given (viz., 87,385) is the total of male agri- 

 cultural labourers, farm servants, shepherds, horsekeepers,^ 

 horsemen, teamsters, and carters in 1897, in the districts in 

 which there was a change in the predominant rates of wages. 



* Report and Statistical Tables relating to Changes in Rates of Wages and Hour 

 of Labour in the United Kingdom in 1897. C. — 8975. Price is. 2|d. 



