330 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



[Dec. 1895. 



Generally speaking, women's wages are from 4cZ. to 6d. per 

 day lower than those of the men. In the Tyrol, however, the 

 difference is greater. When meals are not given, the men 

 usually receive from 7id. to Is. per day more (in Bohemia, 

 Moravia, and Steiermark, the difference is usually 5d. to 7 Id., 

 and in Galicia, 2|(X to 5d.) ; while the women receive about lOd. 

 per day more in Salzburg, 2^d. to 5d. in Bohemia, Moravia, and 

 Galicia, and about 5d. to 7^d. in most other districts. It is 

 generally reckoned that the women eat less than the men, hence 

 the difference in wages with and without meals is not so great 

 in their case. 



Piece-work is paid, generally, in two ways. The most usual 

 practice is to pay according to the area ; the amount of course 

 varies greatly, but the following may be accepted as about the 

 minimum pi ices in the provinces named : Haymaking, 2s. Sd. 

 per acre in Lower Austria and Steiermark, 2s. Id. in Carinthia, 

 2s. lOd. in Upper Austria, Is. Sd. in Bohemia, 26*. in Moravia, 

 9d. in Silesia, and Is. Id. in Galicia ; corn-reaping, 2s. Sd. in 

 Upper Austria, Is. 3d. in Bohemia, Is. 5d. m Silesia, and Is. Sd., 

 in Galicia. Piece-work is generally adopted for almost all 

 purposes in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, threshing by machi- 

 nery being almost the only labour paid by time ; in most other 

 districts, however, time wages are the more common. 



The second method is to pay the labourer a certain proportion 

 of the crop, but this is not so common as payment by area. It 

 is mostly adopted in connection with threshing, when the work- 

 man receives an amount varying from one-fourteenth to one- 

 eighth of the threshed corn ; the higher fraction being given only 

 in Lower Austria and Moravia, and the lower in Bohemia. In 

 some cases a certain amount of food is given as well. Threshing 

 by hand is usually paid with a larger proportion of the produce 

 than in the case of machine-threshing. In the eastern districts, 

 haymaking is also sometimes paid for in this way — as much as 

 half the hay made being given in some cases. The proportion 

 is generally highest for the aftermath, and least for clover. 



Commenting upon the results of this inquiry into wages, Dr. 

 Inama Sternegg, President of the Central Statistical Commission, 

 concludes that the variations in the management of estates, and 

 the differences in the physical conditions of the land, are not 

 accompanied by corresponding variations in the rates of wages. 

 The difference between the wages of men and women depends 

 upon local customs ; it is least where the conditions of labour 

 are simple and regular. Women's wages are, he points out, 

 always more nearly equal to those of the men whenever meals 

 ^re given in part payment; the maintenance of the man is 

 reckoned to cost more, so that the difference in real vrages is 

 greater than appears. The difference between wages with and 

 without meals depends, according to Dr. Inama Sternegg, very 

 much on the simplicity of the workman's requirements, and also 

 upon how easily he can keep himself at home, but the quality of 

 the food has very little effect (its influence is greater in harvest- 



