EARNINGS OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. 173 

measured and compared, since it frequently happens that in 
districts where the weekly cash wages are comparatively 
low the labourer receives extra payments from piece work, 
harvest, and in other ways which add considerably to his 
wages. This important distinction between the wages and 
earnings of the agricultural labourer was brought out by 
Mise Cy Little “nn “hnis report tothe Royal ‘Commission 
on Labour, in which he says: 
It seems necessary at the outset of the inquiry into this subjeet to emphasise the 
distinction between wages and earnings. It will be conceded that a high rate of 
pay combined with irregular employment may yield smaller earnings to the worker 
than would be obtained by constant work at a lower rate, and that a uniform 
weekly payment throughout the year may be better for the labourer than payment 
by results (z.e., by piecework), 
On the other hand, a iow rate of wages, regarded as a retaining fee and ensuring a 
man constant employment, with the opportunity, if he chooses, of adding very con- 
siderably to those wages by piecework, may place the labourer in as gooda position 
as that of one who is apparently receiving higher wages. 
The extra earnings of ordinary labourers for piece work, har- 
vesting, and haymaking, are usually higher in amount in those 
arable districts where the weekly cash wages are lowest than in 
the grass counties and more northerly districts, where there is a 
higher rate of wages but fewer opportunities for extra 
earnings. For instance in the north, where the men are 
hired, piece-work is only given occasionally to casual 
labourers or to Irish labourers ; but elsewhere, and particularly 
in the arable counties, piecework is frequently given for such 
work as hoeing, singling, and pulling roots; mowing clover 
or other seeds; and lifting potatoes; and where fruit and 
flowers are grown, a great deal of picking is done by piece- 
work. 
Harvest earnings also represent a considerable addition to 
the weekly wages, especially in the chief corn-growing 
counties where, generally speaking, the rates of weekly cash 
wages are lowest. According to the returns furnished to the 
Labour Department, in Norfolk and Suffolk, outside the fen 
districts of the former county, the harvest earnings of an 
ordinary labourer generally amount to about £7 or 47 I0s.; 
in addition beer is frequently given or else about three bushels 
of malt and three pounds of hops. So that if the harvest 
should be completed in four weeks the extra earnings ofa 
