LABOUR AND PROTECTION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPEC1'ATOR..".1
SIR,--In reading your admirable review of "Labour and Protection" in the Spectator of December 5th, I was struck by a curious fact, which I have not yet seen quoted in con- nection with the fiscal controversy. The income of 21s. 8d. which Mr. Rowntree lays down as the bare living wage for a working man, his wife, and three children in this country is actually higher than the wages of many skilled workers in France and Germany. The table of "Average Rates of Wages Current" in the Government Blue-book on "British and Foreign Trade and Industrial Conditions" (Cd. 1,761, p. 291) shows that in Germany (outside the capital) joiners (21s. 741), turners (208.), fitters (20s.), and smiths (21s. 7d.), and in France (outside the capital) masons (21s. 7d.), plumbers (21s. 71d.), painters (21s. 7d.), and fitters (21s. 7d.), are all in receipt of wages which in this country would, on Mr. Rowntree's data, place them below the poverty-line. The fact is significant.—I am, Sir, &c., Gzo. B. HODGSON. South Shields.
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