THE WAGES OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR=1 SIE,•—•YOET statement in an editorial note in the Spectator of November 7th that "there are plenty of labourers in the country whose wages winter and summer do not average more than 12e. a week" seems an extraordinary one, and it would interest many farmers to know where this average is maintained. Speaking for my own district, a purely agricultural one, it would be impossible to get a labourer of any kind for a 12s. average, or anything ap- proaching it; on the contrary, it would require something very near the 18s. 6d. quoted by your correspondent to tempt [We should be delighted to think that there were no cases of men averaging only 12s. a week, though we freely admit that this is now never the normal wage of a good agricultural labourer in full work. It must be remembered, however, that though 18s. may be his wage when he is in week, if a man is out of work, or only able to get odd jobs from October to March, the average is very quickly reduced, and may soon be brought down to 128.—En. Spectator.]
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