§ Sir CHIOZZA MONEYasked the President of the Board of Trade and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture what, if any, has been the increase in the rates of wages paid to agricultural labourers in 1916, as compared with the rates of wages paid in July, 1914?
Mr. HARCOURTFull information as to the rise in the rates of wages of agricultural labourers since the beginning of the War is not yet available, but, so far as returns have been received, the rise in cash rates would appear to have been, on the whole, about 25 per cent. This takes no account of any change in the value of allowances in kind, and owing to the rise in prices the cash value of these allowances has probably increased by more than the above percentage.