The Farm-worker's Wage
There is no great group of workers in this country who were so seriously underpaid before the war as those engaged in agri- culture, and the country's urgent need of them has produced a situation in which they must be adequately remunerated. The pre-war minimum of 3os. a week was raised to 48s., and now by a recommendation of the Agricultural Wages Board it is to be raised to 56s. The demand had been for £3 a week, and critics in most unexpected quarters have urged that any less wage than this should not be paid. This generous attitude is a welcome sign of the change in public opinion which looks forward to drastic reforms in British agriculture and a good standard of living for its workers. Indeed the present position is so far from being based on any normal economy that it cannot be said to make 'very much difference to the country whether the rate is raised to 56s. or 6os. Milk will be either subsidised or the price raised, or both, and there will be higher controlled prices for fat stock and crops. There are various factors which have to be borne in mind in any assessment. With moderate overtime most farm-workers are earning los. a week or more beyond their fixed wage. They sometimes get a cottage rent-free or at con- siderably less than the economic rent, and often free -milk. Moreover, a majority of them derive some benefit from their own gardens. That is one side of the 'picture. On the other hand they see men in other spheres of work receiving larger wages often for less exacting labour ; and they do not see why they should 'be paid less. Such considerations ought to be balanced one against another. But whatever is done now it is essential that we should make up our minds that it has to go on. It would be fatal to provide conditions of prosperity now and leave the farm-workers in the lurch when the war is over. It is necessary to be thinking now in terms of the post-war economy of agriculture under a system when it may still prosper and afford a living wage, in spjte of resumed imports and reason- able prices to the consumer.
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