On the other hand, the apportionment Act 1870 (see Chap. 3) refers specifically to salaries, but omits any reference to wages. Therefore, the statutory protection extended to those on salaries under the Act may not cover wage-earners. Finally, cases decided in an earlier era under the common law, not statute, have left us with a legacy which treats manual workers as normally earning wages by hour, and salaried workers earning an indivisible yearly sum. Though the former may be paid weekly, and the latter monthly, this is only to be understood as a matter of convenience. This historical perspective may become important if there is a lay-off from work, for example, or if there were to be a repeat of the three-day week experienced in the winter of 1973-74.