§ Mr. WIGNALLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture if he is aware that the employés under the Crown, in Gloucestershire, are at present receiving the wages of £17s. per week as against £2 1s. 6d. paid to men engaged in similar occupations in neighbouring counties, and that the men engaged on the Crown lands have made application for their wages to be raised to the same rate as others engaged on the same class of work; and will he give this matter his immediate attention, as the people concerned are suffering great hardships in consequence of the wage of £l 17s. being totally inadequate to meet the increased cost of living at the present time?
Sir A. BOSCAWENAble-bodied men over twenty-one years of age employed in the Crown Forests in Gloucestershire are receiving not less than 37s, per week, but in the cases of experienced and capable men in Dean Forest rates of 38s. or 39s. per week are being paid, and still higher rates are paid for wood-cutting. These rates are higher than the minimum rate of 36s. 6d. fixed by the Agricultural Wages Board for the county. The men working in Monmouth are paid £2 1s. 6d. per week, in accordance with the minimum rate fixed for that county by the Agricultural Wages Board.