670 The Farm Labourers of England and Wales. 
warrant a statement of the complete range of earnings. But, 
so far as the evidence goes, it represents the average weekly- 
earnings of shepherds as follows : — 
Approximate Average Weekly Earnings of Shepherds 
IN 
CERTAIN 
Counties. 
Districts previously named of 
Districts previously named of 
Northumberland . 
. 21/ 
to 26/ 
Herts .... 
. . 16/ to 21/ 
Yorkshire . . 
. 16/ 
to 20/ 
Bucks .... 
. . 16/ to 19/ 
Lincolnshire . . 
. 16/6 to 19/6 
Oxfordshire 
f 12/8 to 20/ 
Nottinghamshire . 
. 19/ 
to 21/ 
1 and cottage 
Shropshire . . . 
. 19/ 
to 36/7 
Berks .... 
. . 16/ to 21/ 
Herefordshire 
. 15/5 to 17/4 
Surrey . . . 
Northamptonshire 
. 18/ 
to 21/ 
Sussex .... 
Bedfordshire . . 
. 15/ 
tp 16/6 
Hants .... 
. . 16/ to 20/ 
Huntingdonshire . 
. 16/ 
to 18/ 
Wilts .... 
. . 16/ to 25/ 
Norfolk .... 
. 17/ 
to 22/ 
Dorset .... 
. . 15/6 to 17/4 
Suffolk .... 
. 20/ 
to 28/ 
Devon .... 
. . 16/ to 17/ 
Essex 
. 16/ 
to 18/ 
In some cases the amounts are given as actual payments, 
and the range of totals may be unduly favourable to one county 
as compared with another. The highest amount, 36s. 7c l. per 
week, was given by Mr. Bowen-Jones, of Ensdon, Shropshire, as 
the earnings of his shepherd during a particular year, and 26s. in 
Sussex was given in like manner by the owner of a large flock. 
The wages stated by the Assistant Commissioners are mainly 
those of 1892, and in some districts a reduction of a shilling a 
week has since taken place on account of the severity of agri- 
cultural depression ; but there is no doubt that the tendency of 
the men’s wages will be upwards whenever farming becomes 
even tolerably prosperous again. 
Cottage Accommodation . 1 
It is hardly necessary to say that in all the districts visited by 
the Assistant Commissioners good, bad, and indifferent cottages 
were found. The variations are greater within any given district 
than between one district and another, although it appears that 
the cottages in Wales, as a rule, are greatly inferior to those 
of any of the English districts. There is general agreement 
as to the testimony upon certain points as follows : — 
1. That cottage accommodation is sufficient in each district as a whole, 
though not in every parish, the consequence being that men in some cases 
have to walk two or three miles to their work. 
1 See Report of the Judges on Plans and Models at Manchester (Journal, 
2nd Series, Vol. V., 1869, p. 561) ; Report on the Plans of Labourers' Cottages 
a Cardiff (Journal, 2nd Series, Vol. VIII., 18fr2, p. 246) ; and Cottage Sanitatio . 
ournal, 3rd Series, Vol. III., 1892, p. 631 ). — Ed.. 
