Dr. Reginald Farrar's report to the Local Government Board on the conditions under which persons are employed in pea-picking : with some general observations on the employment of casual labour in agricultural districts, and an appendix giving the police regulations in force during the hop-picking season in certain districts of Bavaria.

  • Farrar, Reginald, 1861-1921.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. Reginald Farrar's report to the Local Government Board on the conditions under which persons are employed in pea-picking : with some general observations on the employment of casual labour in agricultural districts, and an appendix giving the police regulations in force during the hop-picking season in certain districts of Bavaria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    this kind do no more than regulate the nature of such accommoda- tion as may be provided. There is no power to deal with an employer who evades the by-laws by refusing to provide any accommodation at all. This point is illustrated by the experience of the Ongar Eural District Council, who in 1906 adopted a code of by-laws embodying certain modifications of the Local Government Board’s Model Series which were made with a view to meeting the special req^uire- ments of the pea-picking industry. In 1907 this Council reported to the Board that “ whereas before the by-laws came into force certain employers of pea-pickers provided tents or other means of shelter for their employees, on an inspection of the camps this year, when the by-laws were in force, not a tent or any means of shelter whatsoever was provided by the employers.” The Council drew attention to the anomaly exhibited in the fact of a rural council being given power to make by-laws for securing decent lodging and accommodation whilst the power to compel the provision of such lodging and accommodation is withheld. In its legal aspect the problem appears to form part of the general problem of vagrancy. If the vagrant population could be satis- factorily dealt wdth, it might then be possible to fix on the employer of labour, whether farmer or salesman, the responsibility for providing proper accommodation for immigrant pea-pickers. Such legislation would supply the necessary stimulus for organisation which I have shown to be wanting at present. To insist on proper accommodation being provided could not then be regarded as a hardship on the employer or an undue intei’ference with the liberty of trade. The farmer who grows peas is the means of bringing into his district a very large number of persons for Avhom the existing accommodation of the district is insufficient. This invasion is a very serious' strain on the resources of the sanitary, poor law% and police authorities, and, therefoi’e, adds materially to the burden of the rates. It is equitable to demand that he shall use every available means to minimize this incon- venience. The employment of casual labour for other vegetable harvests. As has been already said, a considerable amount of the casual labour that is engaged in the pea-picking industry is absorbed during other periods of the summer in a cycle of fi’uit and vege- table harvests, or in operations ancillary to these harvests. Fruit growing is an industry steadily increasing in importance, and this fact, taken in conjunction with the depopulation of rural districts, has led to the replacement of local by casual labour on a consider- able scale. This tendency is especially marked in Worcestershire,
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