WAGES OF AGRICULTURAL LABOUR. 361 

were analysed, and out of 511 samples of confectionery and 
jam all but 14 were passed as genuine. With regard to oat- 
meal, 2 out of 307 samples were condemned, and this was also 
the case with 6 samples of cheese out of 642. 

WAGES OF AGRICULTURAL LABOUR IN 1899. 
A report* recently issued by the Labour Department of 
the Board of Trade contains information, compiled, as in the 
case of previous years, from returns furnished by the chair- 
men of Rural District Councils in England and Wales, as to 
the current rates of weekly cash wages in January and June, 
1899, of ordinary agricultural labuurers, exclusive of piece- 
work earnings, of extra payments for hay and corn harvests, 
and of all extra allowances in cash and kind. 
The returns do not include men exclusively engaged with 
the charge of animals, such as cattlemen, carters, horsemen, 
and shepherds, who are generally paid higher wages and 
obtain more perquisites; but it has been assumed for the 
purpose of calculation, as in previous reports, that where the 
predominant rates of wages of ordinary labourers have 
changed in a district, a similar change has taken place in 
the wages of all classes of agricultural labourers. 
The particulars of increases and decreases in wages in 
Ergland and Wales in the years 1897, 1898, and 1899 are 
summarised in the following table :— 
Changes in 1899 as Changes in 1898 as Changes in 1897 as 
compared with 1808. compared with 1897. compared with 1896. 

i . | 
Increase (+) Total Increase (+) Total Increase (++) 
or 
or or 
Numb Numb 
Decrease () of Weabeuners Decrease (— of anes DIORCARE (=) 
in Weekly affected. | <2 Week ly affected Ua ecEly, 
Cash Wages. | : | Cash Wages. * | Cash Wages. 
Total 
Number 
of Labourers 
affected. 
Increases - 195,191 + 214,247 82,453 
Decreases - 248 - : 2,740 3 4,932 


| 195,439 | Te 217,037 87,385 

“Report and Statistical Tables relating to Changes in Rates of Wages and Hours 
of Labour in the United Kingdom in 1899. Cd. 309. Price Is. 6d. 
