Agricultural Hirings. 



217 



were leaving their places they had to submit at the hirings 

 to small reductions, but in other cases capable servants 

 remaining on in their places sometimes got slight advances. 

 In a few districts it was reported that men servants were 

 rather more easily procured this year than has been the case 

 for a few years, and this was attributed to the fact that in 

 such districts the farmers are employing fewer men. Women 

 workers are said to be scarce in most parts of the country. 



At the annual spring hiring fairs in the Border Counties — 

 namely, Berwick, Roxburgh, and Peebles — there is said to 

 have been a moderate attendance of all classes of farm 

 servants. Men were rather more easily hired than in the 

 last year or two, owing, it is said, to the farmers employing 

 fewer hands. Ploughmen got, as a rule, from 15s. to 17s., 

 and in some cases 18s. a week, with free house and usual 

 perquisites, and women workers 8s. to 10s. a week, with 20s. 

 to 30s. extra at harvest. 



In the Lothians, at the yearly fairs in Haddington, Edin- 

 burgh, and Linlithgow the rates obtained were very similar 

 to those in the Border Counties — namely, 15s. to 18s. a week 

 for ploughmen, with cottages and the usual perquisites. 

 Women workers 8s. to 10s. a week, and from 3s. to 5s. per 

 w T eek extra during potato-lifting and grain harvest. 



At the half-yearly fairs in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, 

 Dumfries, Forfar, Inverness, Kirkcudbright, Lanark, Moray, 

 Nairn, Perth, Stirling, and Wigtown there were generally no 

 changes in wages compared with 1 896. As a rule, first horse- 

 men got from £14 to £17 for the half-year, in some cases up 

 to £18 or £ig, with the usual perquisites ; other horsemen 

 got from ;£io to £14 with the usual perquisites. Cattlemen 

 got from £10 to £19 for the half-year, with perquisites. 

 Youths under fifteen years were paid from £$ to £10, usually 

 with board and lodging. Women workers generally got 

 from is. 3d. to is. 6d. a day, with 20s. to 30s. extra in 

 harvest. Byre-women in the South-West of Scotland got 

 from £j to £1 1 per half-year and board and lodging. 



