In an " interview " published in the Daily News
and Leader on Monday Mr. Lloyd George stated his views on the labour unrest. " The right to strike," he said, " is fundamental, but
strikes are no final remedy. No ; whenever you begin to probe these matters you always get back to the land. It is the agricultural labourer on whom we should concentrate attention." The interviewer remarked that the agricultural labourer had lower wages than any one. Mr. Lloyd George then expressed his belief that all other wages were depressed by the indirect competition of the agricultural labourer. When the interviewer suggested that even in the wages of agricultural labourers there were variations, Mr. Lloyd George said :—
" That is just whore the absurdity of the position lies. When a labourer is put off with 12s. or 14s. a week it is not due to supply and demand or the exigencies of the market. It is simply a. matter of custom and organization. In my county of Carnarvon the labourer gets his pound in meal and in malt. Yet the land is rugged and the soil uneven. But just across the Menai Straits, for no apparent reason, wages are lower on soil that is often more fertile. Indeed, the worst cases of under-payment are found in °aunties like Buckinghamshire and Dorset, where the land is admirable and there are prosperous markets for produce at the doors. No harm of any kind would come to agriculture if the wage for labour rose to a pound a week all over the country, and that condition would be much the most effective way of improving the minimum wage in other industries."
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