In the House of. Commons on Monday Mr. Noel Buxton's
Agricultural Bill passed its Second Reading. The Bill places the responsibility of fixing wages for England and Wales on a Central Wages Board. The County Wages Boards. will have no statutory powers but will be merely advisory. The farmers will not get, as they did under the Corn Production Act, any guarantee of such prices as will enable them to pay the wages. Of course, employers in one industry after another say that they cannot pay wages which ultimately events prove them able to pay. In agriculture, however, we suspect that the protestations of a large proportion of the farmers are nearer the truth than in any other industry. We should have liked, therefore, to see more powers given to the County Boards. The conditions in farming vary so greatly in the different districts that a Central Board intent upon fixing a wage as nearly as possible uniform may commit real injustices. Rigid doctrines, inspired by ignorance of practical details, may play havoc. The Government declared that the Central Wages Board would be always anxious to be guided by the men with local knowledge. If that should be so all may go well, but we must point out that there is a danger.
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