[TO THE EDITOR OP TILE "Sracrwror..1
Sin,—With reference to your estimate in the Spectator of October 31st of the amount spent by the labourer on bread, may I draw your attention to the Board of Trade Blue-book, p. 211, which gives it for the agricultural labourer as 3s. 5d.,— i.e., about 18 per cent. of his supposed average income, 18s. 6d., as estimated on p. 210 P-1 am, Sir, &c.,
Boscombe, Bournemouth. J. H. STENNETT.
[It is, unfortunately, by no means possible to talk as if incomes below 18s. 6d. were so uncommon as to be negligible. There are plenty of labourers in the country whose wages winter and summer do not average more than 12s. a week. In families where the father is dead, disabled, or partially disabled the spending powers of the household may be con- siderably lower. But the bread bill cannot be reduced in accordance with the earnings. It even increases in those very poor families where it is practically the sole food, and where almost no meat is eaten.—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
