TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8708, 2 February 1894, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The London skilled workThe London man will hare to look to Working Man. his laurels if indeed he has not lost them already. A lamentable account of. the decadence in English craftsmen was given the other day in a paper read hy Mr Owen Fleming, an architect, before a conference of members of the Architectural Association. Speaking of the average building mechanic In London, Mr Fleming said his work was very far below the standard it ought to reach. He asked the Operative Bricklayers' representative, who waa present, whether even twenty-five per cent, of the men who present themselves on a job are capable of executing a piece of good face brickwork. Even among these comparatively capable

men, Mr Fleming intimated, few men were | able or willing to do a really tirst-class i piece of work without constant supervision. Tho average bricklayer seemed to imagine / that there waa no necessity tor the sides of i bricks to be covered with mortar. An J architect told him that he had to employ j five men before he could get some salt- I glazed brickwork decently executed. Capa- j ble joiners were as difficult to find as capable I bricklayers. The shop foreman of one of j the largest London contractors told Mr \ .Fleming that he only accepted one out of I every four men that applied to him for J work. The others were nos able even to put together machine-made joinery to his satisfaction. " Compare the joinery of an average suburban house of to-day with that ■of the Queen Anne and early Georgian houses of the same position" added the writer "and see- ii the two will really i bear comparison." The only trade where Mr Fleming found any evidence of progress was the plumbers', where the standard of work I was distinctly high, but this was probably owing to the energetic policy of the j Plumbers' Company. There is not j j even tbe excuse of great rapidity 'of work to offer for this state of things. Work, according to Mr Fleming, | is really done at a much slower rate than it 'used to be. Several contractors have assured him that the price of labour to-day is j i4O per cent, or 50 per cent, higher than it used to be, owing principally to the length 'of time mea take in their work ; and, he added, that he had strong evidence to show that bricklayers are practically compelled not to lay more than an average of 400 to 500 bricka per day, whereas, ten years ago, the average pec man was nearer 1000. As to the cause of this deplorable state of affairs, Mr Fleming suggested that it was largely due to the fact that apprenticeship is practically dead, and there is no satisfactory system of traiuing taking its place. He urged that Trades Unions should take the matter up, pointing out that the question of the competency of their individual -membera ought to concern them at least as much as the competency of aspirants ior membership concerned the Institute of Architects. The technical schools and classes which are being established are undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but it is evident they must be enormously extended if they are to completely take the place oi the apprenticeship system.

Professor Lombroso, of Criminal Turiu-the great Italian anthroWoman. polosjisfc, has just published an

elaborate boon, on "Criminal Woman." Some of the rules which he puts forward are a little curious. For instance, he asserts that immoral or criminal women ara shorter in the arms, longer in the hands and feet, heavier in the body, smaller in the head, larger in the face, darker in the hair and eyes, &c., than normal women. White hair also is twice as common among them as it is among normal women. Another very curious statement which he makes is that tattooing is an infallible indication of criminal tendencies. This will be news to most of us. The Pacific Islanders, like the Samoans, who go in largely for this species of adornment, are certainly not more depraved than many other races of mankind, and nobody will say that sailors evince any particular pi-oneness to crime, although they are very .fond of tattooing anchors, ships- in full sail and the like upon their breasts and arms. The rule, therefore, hardly applies to men. Tattoo- j ing among women is very uncommon —or at least we hope it is, although it was stated that it was becoming all the rage . among so-called fashionable circles in England and America a'year or two ago. If there is any idea of reviving, this eccentric fashion Professor Lombroso's uncompromising dictum- ought to check the proposal. , * In these days of increasing A competition we are conToorHeroic stantly coming upon methods Youth. of earning a livelihood that are more and more ingenious. A case in point has just cropped up in England. A lad of nineteen was convicted at the Central Criminal Com. of wilfully setting fire to a house iv order to claim a reward for extinguishing the outbreak. It waß shown that he was in the habit of setting houses on fire and then distinguishing himself by extraordinary energy aud gallantry in fighting the flames. I. was noticed that he was always keeu after.the reward, and enquiries being made the whole secret of his ingenious but reprehensible method of maintaining himself came out. The Court sentenced him to. twelve years' hard labour, so that his operations have received a summary , check,,;