806 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL clauses. The threat affects as many as 1,000 female hands, but whether it will be carried out remains to be seen. Female labour has other advantages in India besides cheapness. It is said to be steadier than men's. And then other alternatives exist. One of the commissioners thought the shift system might be resorted to, and European ex- perience suggests that the mill-owner may find that his production has not really suffered and may reconcile himself to the new conditions. JOHN tieturn of Rates of Wages i?z the Mines and Quarries i? the , U?z.ited Kingdon? with Re?ort thereo? of 1891 (C--6455). TH?S Return is the third volume of the census of wages undertaken by the Board of Trade in pursuance of the resolution passed by the House of Commons in 1886. The report is based on information collected during the years 1886-88, and deals with the coal, iron, and other mines of the United Kingdom. Mr. Giffen again draws attention to the fact that the so-called 'labour department' of the Board of Trade is starved and undermanned.. To this cause he attributes the delay in publication, and to the same cause we must assign the imperfect method adopted for collecting information, and the incompleteness of the report itself. Over 1900 schedules were sent to employers of labour in the different mining districts; 323 replies were rfiturned relating to 87,494 persons, s?nd it is assumed that from these returns the average wages of the 557,197 workers employed in all the coal and ?netalliferous mines in the kingdom can be accurately calculated. Mr. Giffen arrives at the following conclusions :raThe average annhal wages in the coal, iron ore and ironstone mines in 1885 was 52 per head .men, women, and young persons .underground and overground workers, all included. This 52 per head represents net wages, that is to say the annual wages after the d?duction frmn gross wages of the cost Of the powder, oil, candles, &c., usually borne by the miner. Attention is drawn to the fact that free cottages or free ooal, or both, are given in some districts in addition to the weekly wages. The maxhnum wages (64) appear to have been paid in Yorkshire &rid the minima in Shropshire (33), in West' Scotland (48), and in Ireland (34). As regards men, women, and boys, the average wages work out as follows: Arereal. Per Week. Lads and boys 27 W. omen 21 G?rls 14 11 0 0 5 Average ? ? ?) ? ? ? These figures imply constant employment for a full year, but Mr. Giffen thinks that 10 to 15 per cent. should be deducted for short time, holidays, sickness, and similar causes.
