BRITAIN’S RURAL POPULATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1182, 9 December 1913, Page 4

BRITAIN’S RURAL POPULATION.

. + J LOW WAGES AND DEBAS- 1 ING CONDITIONS. j Mr B. Beebohra Rowntree has '• won a high reputation as a social ' investigator, and it is an open 1 secret that he is advising Mr ! Lloyd George with the Land 1 Campaign. Mr Rowntree defines 1 his ideal for rural betterment in 1 an interesting article in the Guardian. His ideal is that the land should provide for the largest possible 1 number of people the means of living a healthy and wholesome life, free from servile dependence 1 on others, and with adequate opportunities of advancement for all 1 who are capable of taking advant- 1 age of them. “Now let us see to vyhat extent this 292,000 farmers and small holders are concerned, it may be said that, to a certain extent, their lives do realise the above ideal. Probably, in the case of the smaller men, at any rate, conditions fall further short in the matter oi personal independence. The lot oi mauy of them would be difficult it they opeuly opposed their landlord in politics or asserted their legal rights under the Ground Game Acts. “The number of agricultural labourers in England and Wales is about 580,000, and they are thus by far the largest class among the ‘males engaged in agriculture,’ twice as numerous as farmers and small holders put together. We will confine ourselves to those whose ages are between 20 and 65 years. In 1901 they numbered 457,639, and of these 59 per cent, were ordinary labourers and 41 per cent, men in charge ot animals. The ion census figures are not yet available, but it is unlikely that they will differ widely from those of 190 X. According to Board of Trade returns, it would appear that in 1907 rad per cent, of the ordinary labourers lived in counties where the average wage was under 16s, 46 per cent, where it was between x6s and ißs, and only 4td per cent. lived in counties where it exceeded xSs, “It is important to note that the wage figures given above include all extras and perquisites of whatever kind, whether free cottage, or milk, or potatoes, or potato patch, or free leading of coal, and all extra payments for harvest and hay time. The wages cf men in charge of animals average about is 6d a week higher, but their hours are considerably longer, and the extra wage is really nothing more than payment for overtime. In order to enable us to grasp the exact meaning of these figures, let us compare them with the wage necessary to maintain a family of average size in a state of physical efficiency. f, At present prices it lakes 20s 6d a week to maintain a family of average size (two adults and three children), paying 2s a week for rent, in a state oi physical efficiency. This allows lor a dietary approximately equal in quantity to that provided in English workhouses, but less attractive in quality. It allows not a farthing in the course of the whole year for luxury of any kind, or for any expenditure that is not absolutely uecessaiy for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency—not a halfpenny tor a newspaper, nothing for stamps, or travelling, or finery, or toys, or church’ collections- “ Accepting this figure, it will be seen that almost all the ordinary agricultural workers in England and Wales live in counties where the average wage is below the ‘efficiency minimum.’ “The great bulk of ordinary agricultural labourers are in receipt of wages which, unless supplemented in one way or another, are inadequate to maintain a family of average size in a state of merely physical efficiency. “If an agricultural labourer works in a garden or allotment for which, either directly or indirectly,