THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER

Source: The Tuam Herald, Saturday, September 16, 1893

II CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT

Farm servants are engaged by the year, and for much there is, so far as is goes, continuous employment. It is otherwise with other labour, which is for most part engaged by the day, such employment being of the most casual character. Evidence was given of a curious mixture of conditions. A number of labourers at Kilchreest are employed by Mr Persse, and live in his cottages. He is bound to find them work whenever they seek it, and they are bound to work for him whenever he calls for them, at from 1s 3d to 1s 6d per day. They are also bound to give time, variously estimated at three to four weeks in the year, as payment for rent of cottage and such land as may be attached.

The hours of work vary in different portions of the Union. In Loughrea parish those most generally observed are seven to seven, or six to six in summer, and from lights to dark in winter, with two bours for meals. In Eacharabanure, a small village about six miles from Loughrea, the hours are from 7 30 to seven from March to November, and from eight to five from November to March, with one hour for meals. ln the town of Loughrea, the hours are from seven to six, with two hours for meals. At Turoe, near Woodlawn, the hours are said to be from seven to bell time, supposed to be seven also, but owing to the universal absence of watches, protracted to nine. From light to dark, or from dark to dark as it is most commonly expressed, seems universally accepted as the time for work during Winter, Those engaged with cattle are employed such time as is necessary to look after the cattle, but these are mostly farm servants either living in the house or in farm cottages.

The chief responsibility as to cattle le undertaken by herds, a class quite distinct from any employed in any of the English districts visited, they are neither shepherds nor bailiffs, and yet a compound of both, Occasionally the labourers have to walk some distance to their employment, but as a role it lies fairly convenient and not much has to be added to the hours occupied on this account. Allowing half an hour as an average time covering both journeys, the total hours occupied will be from 9½ in the town of Loughrea, and 10½ to 11 in other districts in summer, and 8½ to 9 in winter. Of the ordinary labourers, none are employed in Sunday labour and of these employed with the cattle only the herds are so called upon at all regularly, or for any considerable time.

III.- WAGES AND EARNINGS
The rate of wages is evidently at all times extremely varied, and dependent on the particular circumstances of the moment. The amount given at the Loughrea meeting, mixed, was 1s 4d and 1s 6d per day, the latter in the town itself, and 1s 6d, 2s. and 2s 6d, per day during hay time and harvest. During the winter month, the wages are from 1s 3d to 1s 4d per day. The opportunities of adding to wages by piece work are very few, being confined almost entirely to mowing, for which 8s, 10s, and 12s per Irish acre are paid. During this time no change appears to be made in the usual method except that the higher prices noted above are paid, and here and there an occasional meal also.

In one or two cases I was told that a little milk might be given to those in charge of the cattle, but this regarded as altogether a matter of charity, there being nothing like any custom.

In former days there was a considerable amount of cottage weaving established in Loughrea, mostly of Irish frieze. There are some of the labourers who still fill up their time with such work, when unable to obtain employment on the land. There were about five of the cottages in which such work was being carried on, and the labourers said the amount they received for weaving would come to about 2s per day. In another case the labourer was also a shoemaker, in another a tailor while in another cottage I found the man had by assisting his wife as a wool-carder, i.e., carding into ridges the long woollen nap on the warm skirts so largely worn also became an adept at the employment. Occasionally near a turbary, the labourers will either work for hire at turf cutting, receiving 1s 8d or 2s per day and food, or will take a bank of turf at 5s to 10s per 20 yards, according to quality and position, and make what they can by selling such turf. More frequently, however, this is limited to casting and carting away such turf as is required for their own use.

Where labourers are engaged all the year round the pay varies from 7s to 9s per week ; their earnings are easily reckoned. It is otherwise however with those only casually engaged, or who receive in lieu of cash a cottage with more or less land, and the ley of a cow. It is almost impossible to affix any cash equivalent to the work of farmers’ sons, who, for the most part working in and out for each other, when no cash passes, do occasionally work for the neighbouring gentry or larger farmers when cash was paid.

There is also the class of herds, whose pay is for the most part almost entirely in kind, admitting of only a very broad and general estimate of any cash equivalent. They are generally paid by “freedoms,” the freedom consisting of so many “collops.”. A collop, the right to keep at the expense of the employer, and running among his cattle:-

One cow and one calf, or one mare and one foal (April to November),

Or three yearling calves.

Or four ewes with lambs.

Or six dry sheep.

The cash equivalent of a collop is generally given as from ₤5 or £6 according to the quality of the land, If a herd is not able to stock his freedom, he may in some cases sell is to the highest bidder, or have it commuted for a cash payment, In addition to this freedom they also receive a home and three or two acres of ground; the arrangement is generally three acres or two collops per 100 acres of grazing land superintended, or two acres and three collops, Where there is a large quantity of grazing ground, an arrangement is generally made by which the scale of collops is limited; thus a herd having charge of 400 acres of grazing ground was receiving six acres and six collops, and as the result of a combination among the herds, this has been raised to seven acres and eight collops. In this case the herd is having rent free
seven acres of land and the keep of:-

One cow and calf x eight,

Or three yearling calves x eight,

Or one mare and foal x eight.

Or three foals to November x eight.

Or four ewes with lambs x eight.

Or six dry sheep x eight.

In addition to this, the herd according to his conscience or his worth, is allowed to throw in a few pigs, geese, poultry etc. Assuming each collop to be worth ₤5 10s, and each acre of ground-garden ground, and the best for the most part to be worth ₤3 per acre-the ordinary ley of a cow such a herd is receiving the equivalent of £63 independently of houses and sundry pickings in respect of pigs, poultry, etc: probably his total earnings will be nearly €75. Lord Ashtown has put an end to the system on his own farm, paying ₤1 per week with house and ground-two or three acres-in lieu of the former freedoms, The total earnings may be estimated as follows:-

Ordinary labourers regularly employed, £18 10s to £23 8s per annum.

Do, casually, three months at 12s per week, four months at 10s per week, £15 16s to €17 per annum.

Do, skilled, little extra in mowing, £17 to £19 per annum

Do, servants, keep and ₤8 to ₤10 per annum.

Do, herds, ₤40 to £90.

It will be seen that the herd’s position is a relatively good one, bat be also runs some risk, as he is held responsible for any loss arising from or traceable to his own negligence; among such risks are scabs and grub in sheep, injury to cattle from an open drain, or anything obviously out of order.

IV.- Cottage Accommodation
Only in respect of one village, Kilchreest, was any complaint made of an insufficiency of cottage accommodation; and judging from what meets the eye in driving round, there are fewer cottages than there have been in the past, many having fallen into decay ; the census returns give much the same proportion in the town, but more in the pariah of Loughrea, The cottages are for the most part convenient to work, but occasionally, owing to the great scarcity of employment, labourers will walk long distances rather than run the risk of not obtaining work. In one case a witness was walking 3 miles (Irish, equal to 4½ English) backwards and forwards to his work, in order to keep the place open for his father, who had been temporarily disabled by an accident, There are a few villages or old towns in the Union, such an Loughrea, Athenry, and Woodford, where there is a considerable group of houses, and elsewhere there are a few small hamlets; otherwise the houses are scattered up and down, and it is at times hard to judge whether one has actually been in a village or not.

It is very hard to know what language to employ in speaking of the various points of inquiry in group. (c) cottage accommodation, in this respect Monmouth was by far the worst of the English unions assigned to me, and in describing what I had seen there I felt it my duty to draw attention to the lamentable, condition of the cottages, of the absolutely joyless condition of the agricultural labourers. Were it possible to transplant the Loughrea agricultural labourers into the Monmouth cottages, bad as they are, they ought to be happy. I have of course regarded these cottages from an English standpoint, and made comparisons in my own mind with English models, There may be advantages and disadvantages in this, and I have been told not to expect the quality of labourers’ cottages here as in England. If however the standard set up by model English landlords such as Earl Spencer,- Lord Clifden, the Marquis of Hereford, Mr West, Lord Wantage, Mr W Barnsby of Saltmarsh, Lord Tollemache, Lord Crowe, and others, be a just one cannot easily or consistently get rid of such standard merely because the labourer is Irish instead of English. Yet with anyone not having actually seen the two types of cottages any attempt at comparison would be absolutely misleading, Such English cottages are built of brick, or stone, and slate, with three rooms upstairs, two rooms downstairs, and appointments; every convenience for health, outhouses for fuel, sometimes for washing and baking: in short, houses that anyone not ambitious for large rooms and extra finish might quite comfortably live in. Sanitary arrangements are more perfectly and systematically carried out than is the case in much more pretentious but larger houses. In Loughrea all such ideas must be discarded. It will, perhaps, be convenient here to describe in general terms what the cottages are or are not.

(To be Continued)