BRITISH FARM LABOURERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 7 August 1913, Page 4

BRITISH FARM LABOURERS.

The position of the British farm labourer is improving. For this reason the supply of immigrants to the overseas Dominions is likely to show some falling off. Conditions are rapidly changing in rural England. The higher prices for produce mean that the British farmer is more prosperous to-day than for at least a generation; while the spirit of unrest which marks all labour is unmistakably infecting the farm hands. At this year's hiring fairs there has been an almost unprecedented shortage of men on offer, and the harvest season promises to be marked by a series of sharp fights on the question of wages. Increases amounting to from Is to 3s a week are reported from several counties. Such a rise when it does not carry, the total wage paid to an average of £1 a week all the year round seems low enough to the New Zealander. The British farm worker does not receive his board and lodging. Out of his 2s or 3s a day he has to pay cottage rent, and feed himself and his family. The men are themselves determined that the position, must improve, and they are about to receive the strongest possible support from the Liberal Government. If the dream of Mr LloydGeorge is to come true, the task of the various Dominions engaged in ' immigration work will (predicts a London correspondent) be increased.