§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether on the relief works in Erris the wages vary from 6s. per week to 1s. 6d., in proportion to the number in family; (2) whether he is aware that to earn these wages people are obliged to leave the spring work on their farms; (3) whether, in many instances, the wages paid amount to not more than 1d. per head per day; and (4) whether he is aware that old women and young girls are at work on the relief works for 3s. a week?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe maximum allowance of relief to persons on the labour tests in Belmullet Union is six shillings a week, with a lodging allowance of one shilling and sixpence a week in addition for persons travelling a certain distance to the work. From the latest returns received, it appears that no person on the works received less than two shillings and sixpence a week, and this minimum would appear to be given only in the case of a married couple without children, but in some such cases this amount was exceeded, and the allowance is in excess of the relief given by the elected guardians last year. A family of three receives three shillings and sixpence to four shillings, and a family of four receives four shillings and sixpence, and so on; but the scale is sometimes increased if the circumstances require it. Arrangements have been made for shortening the hours of labour for the next few 1371 weeks to enable persons to superintend or engage in the tillage of their lands. Only in the case of persons with twelve in family, not in receipt of the lodging allowance, would the relief be at the rate specified in the third paragraph. It is to be noted, however, that the rate of wages for labourers in the congested districts at this time of year is very slightly in excess of the amount now given to persons on the relief works, and relief granted from the poor rates should always be less than the current rate of wages. In the event of sickness in the family, additional relief in food may be given. The allowances to women workers are calculated on the same scale as for men—that is to say, according to the number of persons in each family, and in some cases the maximum of six shillings is allowed to female workers. There is no official record of the ages of the women employed. In 1891 and 1895 women were employed on works at a lower rate of wages than men. Every peasant woman in the west of Ireland is accustomed to field labour, and the vice-guardians report regarding women workers as follows—
We always instruct the timekeepers to give them the lightest work; and, in such cases, wherever they ask any indulgence we accept their attendance an hour later in the morning and give them an hour earlier in the evening.