[52 
TaBLE 30. 
Average Wages and Index Numbers of Agricultural Wages. 
(See Chapter VIIL.) 
hd 
™ 
JR 
RAT 
Jr 
“1 
Period. 
1914 - - 
August, 1917 - - 
First Wages Board Period :— 
July, 1918-May, 1919 
May, 1919-April, 1920 
April, 1920—-August, 1920 
August, 1920-August, 1921 
September, 1921 - - 
Conciliation Committee Period 
1922 . - 
1923 - - 
1924 - - - - 
Second Wages Board Period :— 
1925 . 3 
8 ATR 
A 
Average 
Weekly 
Wages. 
8. d. 
18 0 
25 0 
30 6 
37 10} 
43 0} 
16 10% 
19 3 
31 3 
28 0 
28 (© 
30 11 
Percentage increase 
compared with 
pre-war position. 
39 
69 
110 
139 
160 
135 
4 
56 
56 
7) 
Norrs. 
For the purpose of the above Table the average wage of agricultural 
workers in 1914 has been taken at 18s., made up of 16s. 9d., which is 
estimated to have been the average cash earnings of ordinary agricultural 
male workers, and 1s. 3d., which is estimated as the average value of the 
allowances in kind received by such workers. No particulars can be 
given of the changes in wages between 1914 and 1917 when the minimum 
wage of 25s. was established by the Corn Production Act. The figures 
with which the wage of 18s. in 1914 are compared, so far as the period of 
the first Wages Board is concerned, are the average minimum wages for 
ordinary workers in force at various periods. During the period of the 
Conciliation Committees, when no minimum rates were in force, the 
figures given are those which are believed to have been the average 
obtaining throughout the country in each year. After the establishment 
of the second Agricultural Wages Board, the minimum wage for ordinary 
agricultural workers has again been taken for the purpose of comparison. 
No allowance has been made for the regular extra earnings of the special 
classes of workers (4.e., horsemen, stockmen, shepherds, &c.), nor has 
any allowance been made for additional earnings on harvest and other 
seasonal work. Were such allowance made the average wages would no 
doubt be higher throughout, but it is not likely that any great difference 
would be made in the comparative index numbers given in the above 
Table. In calculating the jndex numbers no account is taken of the 
changes which have taken place in the hours of work; whilst information 
with regard to the average hours of work of agricultural workers before 
the war is somewhat vague, it, appears probable that the number of hours 
for which the pre-war wage of 18s. wag payable was somewhat in excess 
of the average hours on which the present minimum rates are based. 
£ 
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