Economic and financial section > Problem of nutrition

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are usually staple commodities. The consumption of these products,
therefore, means a considerable saving to the worker on the amounts
which he would otherwise have to spend on buying them.
Of the numerous collective contracts of this class, mention may be
made of that enacted for the Province of Turin.
Contracts stipulating the Supply of Food.
Many collective contracts stipulate the supply of food to agricultural
labourers. There are rules under which the employer must give
the labourer a certain daily ration of wholesome, nourishing and good-
quality food. These measures aim at guaranteeing the worker a sufficient
supply of food capable of giving him the necessary energy to do his
work, and at the same time protecting him from possible abuses as
regards the quality of the foodstuffs supplied.
Contracts of this are stipulated, for instance, for labourers engaged
in the rice harvest ; under such contracts, the employer, in addition to
a money wage, also supplies the food. On holidays, the employer pays
the whole cost of the food, while on working-days the cost is borne by
the labourers, the employer deducting a small amount (i lira) from the
wages.
In addition to the supply of food, measures have been taken on the
initiative of the “ Ufficio Nazionale Monda ” to set up hutments,
convenient and healthy shelters, refectories and day nurseries for the
children of working mothers. Thanks to these measures, men returning
from work find their dinner ready in healthy and comfortable
surroundings. As an example of this type of collective contract, we may
mention that of the Province of Vercelli. Steps have likewise been taken
to organise the supply of food to shepherds, and particularly those
moving about from one pasture to another. Similar measures have been
adopted in the case of workers employed in oil-mills and on the harvesting
and threshing of wheat, etc., for whose benefit the supply of food,
wholly or partly at the employer’s expense, has been made compulsory.
Under almost all these contracts, provision is made for the supply
of wine in moderation—that is to say, in quantities sufficient to make
the meal wholesome and complete.
“ Metayage ”.
To enable workers’ families to secure the best possible nutrition,
efforts are being made to do away with the employment of agricultural
workers as day labourers and the more general adoption of the
metayage system of husbandry, by which the conditions of workers
and their families are improved, not only because it ensures the necessary
minimum of subsistence and stability, but also because it gives workers
a direct share in the products of their labour, foodstuffs included.
The gradual extension of the metayage system, which has long been