A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE fall, as described above, between 1900 and 1904. At the same time a com- parison of miners' wages in the years 1888 and 1906 reveals an increase of 40 per cent, on the standard rates of that year. 231 However, it must be remembered that wages and conditions of work vary considerably in different parts of the county. In the returns of the census of wages made by the Board of Trade in 1886, e.g., the weekly wages of a coal-hewer in the Potteries district were 2$s. $d. (piece-work) . 22S But in the South Staffordshire district, excluding Cannock Chase, the weekly wages of a coal-hewer paid by the piece were as much as 2%s. 5</. 223 At the present time it is admittedly difficult to give an approximate idea of the aver- age earnings of a coal-hewer in the whole county. It has been computed at 6s. 6d. per day, with an average working week of four days, which makes the average weekly wage for the county 26s., which is of course sometimes exceeded. 224 But with Cannock Chase district the rates would be lower, as it is largely a house-coal district working badly in the summer. Again, in the South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire district the . wages of a coal-hewer are estimated at $s. yd. per day in the thick coal seams, the wages in the thin coal being slightly lower. 225 With a four days' working week this makes a weekly wage of only 235. Wages of course vary very much among different classes of workers in and about the mines, but the wages of the hewer have been taken as the most representative. The returns of the Census of 1886 give some other valuable wages statistics which may be compared with those of the miners. Thus a ' general labourer ' working underground in the Potteries district earned i 8j. ^d. per week, 226 whilst in South Staffordshire he obtained 19^. 5</. 227 On the other hand, a horsekeeper in North Staffordshire could earn 22s. 9</., 228 but in South Staffordshire he obtained only 19^. id. The wages of carpenters and bricklayers for the same date may be gathered from this return. A North Staffordshire bricklayer earned an average of 26s. 6d. per week;' 30 a South Staffordshire man 2js. 5^/. 231 The wages of carpenters show less variation in the two districts, for whilst a carpenter working about the mine earned on an average 2$s. i id. per week in 1886, the southern workman's weekly average amounted to 2$s. iod? The more highly skilled workman would of course obtain more than this. At the present time (Oct. 1906) a skilled carpenter is paid at the rate of 8^. per hour, which at the rate of ten hours per day for five-and-a-half days amounts to 38^. n^d., but this would be a maximum wage and could not be counted on throughout the year. Rather more allowance for periods of slackness must be made in calculating the average wage of the skilled bricklayer, whose present rate of pay is %%d. per hour, which gives a maximum weekly wage of 2 os. d., supposing him to work the same hours as the carpenter. In 1886 boys working in or about the mines earned in North Stafford- shire from js. 2d. to i4j. 6d. per week and in the south from js. 2d. to I4J. 233 71 Rep. ea Changes in Rates of Wages ana 1 Hours of Labour, 1904, p. 104 ; and information obtained from Labour Department, Board of Trade. Return of Rates of Wages in Mines and Quarries, 1891, p. 19. *" Ibid. 21. "* Evidence from Secretary of Midland Miner? Federation,Ocl. 1906.
- Evidence of South Staff, and East Wore. Amalgamated Miners' Association, Oct. 1 906.
"* Return of Rates of Wages in Mines and Quarries, 1891, p. 19. "Ibid. 21. * Ibid. 20. " Ibid. 22. * Ibid 20. " Ibid. 22. Ibid. 20, 22. Ibid. 3H
