They've been shoving up their Eastern rates.
"The Greater Power"
Harold Bindloss W. Herbert Dunton
Relief wages, while sufficient for the family's support, should remain below the current rates so as to give the labourer an effective inducement to seek better employment as soon as better employment can possibly be obtained.
"Contemporary Socialism"
John Rae
If the rates increase, on the one hand, the labourers complain that their wages are not sufficient to pay them; and, on the other, the tenants state that the pressure on the agriculturist is already as much as he can sustain.
"Hodge and His Masters"
Richard Jefferies