Harvest Wages in 1898. 



377 



potatoes in the ground. The dealers often communicate 

 with a man in Ireland whom the labourers call a gaffer," 

 who collects and takes a gang of young women over for 

 this work. The "gaffer" accompanies them from farm to 

 farm, and makes all the necessary arrangements as to 

 travelling, etc. 



It is stated that in recent years the introduction of the 

 self-binder at harvest has greatly decreased the employment 

 of Irish hands at harvest. 



Harvest Wages in 1898. 

 In the Labour Gazette for October the agricultural corre- 

 spondent to the Labour Department of the Board of Trade 

 furnished a statement of the harvest wages of agricultural 

 labourers in 1898, based on returns received from 120 farmers 

 in the Midland, Home, and Southern and South-Western 

 Counties. The average cash earnings, exclusive of perquisites, 

 of 2,032 labourers in a period of twenty- six working days 

 were estimated at £^ 19s. 3jd., compared with ^6 2s. 2d. in 

 the case of 1,670 men in these districts in 1897. In addition 

 to cash payments, beer is given in a good many cases, and 

 sometimes light refreshments, such as tea, bread, butter, and 

 cheese. Overtime is also sometimes paid for. In Norfolk 

 and Suffolk is. is often given for hiring money, and also 

 "horkey" money — ix.^ 2s. or 2s. 6d. for a supper at the end 

 of harvest. 



In some districts the rate of wages was rather higher this 

 year than in 1897, but in these cases the work frequently 

 took longer as the crops were unusually heavy, and often so 

 beaten down that they had to be cut by hand instead of by 

 machines. Some employers stated that they were delayed 

 by the difficulty of getting sufficient hands. In cases 

 where men are paid by piecework they, of course, earn more 

 where higher prices are paid, but in districts where a bargain 

 is made for the whole of the harvest work, or where no extra 

 wages are paid, except, perhaps, a small bonus or extra food 

 and drink, a protracted and arduous harvest is a disadvantage 

 to them. As regards the state of the weather during the two 



