Agricultural Wages in 1900. 



63 



dried, they are thicker- skinned and more fleshy than the bulk 

 of the English varieties. The fresh prunes are sold to the 

 drying factories at about £6 a ton, while the retail price of the 

 dried plums in this country is about 4d. to 5d. per lb, When 

 it is further considered that it requires three or four pounds 

 of fresh prunes to make one pound of dried fruit, it is clear, 

 as Mr. Hall points out, that the market in England for fresh 

 plums is better than that for dried prunes, at least in ordinary 

 seasons. 



The following are the concluding observations of Mr. Hall's 

 report : — " It does not therefore seem desirable that the fruit 

 grower should plant, wholly or partially, prunes instead of 

 plums. The only conclusion I can reach is that, in ordinary 

 seasons, fresh fruit will realise a far better price in English 

 markets than can be obtained for dried fruit, which is the 

 product of districts handicapped by freight charges and 

 unable to sell their fruit in a fresh state. And unless the 

 drying process can be made to pay its way in ordinary 

 seasons, it will not do to have the necessary capital and skill 

 lying idle against the occurrence of a glut year/' 



Agricultural Wages in iqoo.* 



In i goo agricultural wages in England and Wales, which 

 have increased every year since 1895, showed a further 

 increase compared with 1899. 



Information as to the rates of wages has been collected 

 in the manner indicated in previous reports, and the same 

 assumptions have been made as previously. The districts in 

 which increases in w r ages were reported in 1900 contained 

 281,262 labourers, while no decreases were mentioned. The 

 total increase per week in the districts reported on amounted 

 to £9,939, which is equivalent to a general rise of 8jd. per 

 week per head of those affected. This is almost the same 

 increase as in 1898 and 1899, in each of which years a net 



From the Labour Gazette, May, 1901. 



