Agricultural Wages. 



479 



Changes in the Winter Rates of Agricultural Wages. 



Districts. 



No. of 

 Poor 

 Law 

 Unions 

 reported 

 on. 



Number of Agricuhural Labourers in 1S91 in 

 Unions in which there has been the under- | 

 mentioned rise in the weekly rates of Wages of 

 Agricultural Labourers in the winter of 1S98, as \ 

 compared with the winter of 1897. 



No 

 change. 



Increase per Week of 



Total. 



6d. 



IS. 



I.S. 6d. 



2S. 



Midland Counties. . . 



Ea.stern Counties . . . 



Home Counties ... 



Southern and j 

 South -Western • 

 Counties ••• j 



. 



71 

 47 

 37 



94 



1 



80,030 

 34,878 

 35,623 



95,673 



302 

 948 



13,579 

 61,715 

 18,995 



14,851 



1,016 

 14,941 

 3,373 



1,063 

 1,942 



96,890 

 113,476 

 58,939 



110,524 



Total 



249 



247,104 



1,250 



109,140 



19,330 



3,005 



379,829 



It will be seen from this table that, out of a total of 

 379,829 agricultural labourers in the districts named, 

 132,725 (or 34*9 per cent.) were in Poor Law Unions in 

 which wages rose, the increases varying from 6d. to 2s. a 

 week. The predominant rise (in unions where any change 

 took place) was is. per week; but the average rise, spread 

 over the whole number of labourers included in the returns, 

 was about 4|d. a week. 



The greatest number of changes took place in the corn- 

 growing* counties of Cambridge, Essex, Lincoln, Norfolk, and 

 Suffolk. Out of a total of 132,725 agricultural labourers in 

 unions in which wages were changed in all the districts 

 referred to, 78,598 (or 59-2 per cent.) were in these five Eastern 

 counties, forming nearly 70 per cent, of all the labourers, 

 covered by the returns from those counties. Of the 61,7 15 

 labourers in unions in the Eastern counties in which the 

 rates cf wages were generally increased b}^ is. per week, 

 24,246 were in Suffolk, 16,274 Norfolk, 14,007 in Essex, 

 and 7,188 in Cambridgeshire. The increases of is. 6d. per 

 week were chiefly in Lincolnshire. 



In a considerable number of cases the increase in the 

 rate of wages in December, 1898, compared with December,, 



