WORK AND WAGES IN HOLLAND.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 121, 20 November 1888, Page 3

WORK AND WAGES IN HOLLAND.

? We have had (says Stubbs' Weekly ¦ Gazette) at various times reports of Royal c Commissions aud Select Cornmittee'J respect- ¦ in<; the condition of the working olasses in ¦ Great Britain, and, as a rule, such report 3 ¦ do not present very plc:sant or af/ceable ' reading. It is, howover, neensary that infor- - nmtion of tbis kind should be obtained and • widely disseminated in order that grievances ¦ or hardships may be removed wbero possible < and practicable. Otbercountrieiappcartobe ¦ pursuing a somewhat similar oourse, the latest > illustration being that of Hollind. It teems • that a Soyal Commission, composed of > soveral members, one of whom was a work- -. ing carpenter, was appointed in Holland • about two years ago to inquire into the con- > dition of the working ola-.ses in that oountry. « The Commission sat for about eighteen ¦ months, and their preliminary report has re- > cently been published. Among other facts it stateß that in Amsterdam the bakers work ' from 14 to 16 hours a day, in -some cases for 26 hours at a stretch, tbis excessive labour . being due to the competition of the large brrad factories which have recently been i opened, and in whioh the labour is from 12 to I 14 houra. There are 50C0 working tailors, nearly all of whom work in their own homes, , only one merobant tailor having sbops in i whioh tbe sewing maobines are driven by steam, and give employment to 2CJ women and girls. Foreign c ompetition is very great ( in the tailoring tiade, and the Dutch tailors ' have to work very hard during the season, which lasts only three months. The workmen employed in diamond outtinj, of whom ! there are 5030— nearly all Jews— at Amsterdam, are the best paid, as they earn fiom j 723 to 60s and 88 shillings a week, work- ( j ing twelve hours at a strelch. In ' the factories for making bread, sugar, Ac , in the breweries, su?ar refineries, and steam mills, work is carrii i i on both by day and night there being, of couife, two cetaof workmen, though when a man belonging to one Bet is ill or absent his place is taken by a man of the other set, who is thus obl'ged to work for twenty-four hours at a stretch. The Royal Commission, 1 while admitting the difficulty of obtaining acourate information in all caies, report that, 8.% a rule, adults work from thirteen to fourteen hours a day ; and that out of 11,155 workmen in the province of Lemburg, whioh is oiled as a tjpioal oa-.a, 7011 were men, 240 numed womau, 7C3 unmarried women, 565 girlß between 16 and 18, 614 girls between 12 end 16, and 2.193 toys under 18, 09 per oent. ot the toUl numhers bein? minors. A law paucd in 1874 prohibits the employment of ohildren under twelve ye-ra of aje j but the Commisiion report that it is not very - strictly enforced, and, moreover, that ohildren are made to work almoit as long as * adults. The Comnritaion stiles tbat the 8 rat' 3 of wajes may be taken at 2d an hour i for men, lid for women, and ld for chil- j dren in the linen trade ; while bakers a eirn 2d, papermakers 2Jd, sugar re- a finers 3d, pamters and compositors 3£d, ; for certain pointers Cd, and engravers 8d per c bour. For ordinary workmen 3d an hour is a - maximum, whioh is 2s Sd a day, or 15s a week, Buppoiin<r the man to work ten fnll hours. There are a good many mutual relief tocieties in Holland, especially in the faotorics, and the employers themselves sub- * Eoribe in sever-1 catcs. A Dutohman work- ' ing twelve hours a day produces rnvch leia » and is not nearly co well paid as an Englishmm working 1 fewer hours. The Commission a conclude! its report by recommending the a Government, among other things— (l) to pro- 9 vide for the inspection of fabtoriei ; (2) to 5 execute more striotly the law relating to infant IVbonr; (3) to prohibit women and ? children working at night or on Sunday ; (4) to make periods of rest for both of them ? oomppUory. The Dutoh Government has » introduced a Bill which, in Eome respeats, goes beyond, but, in others, dors not come -J up to, the recommendations made by this I Commission.

No direct information has reached us today from the fcene of the supposed goldfind at the Upper Hutt. It is stated, however, by one who has visited the workings opened by Whiteman and party, that about half-a-dozen small fragments of tbe precious metal have been proourcd from the gravel of the creek-bed in the vicinity. The argument in the case of Brought on v. Donnelly was conoluded in the Court of Appeal this afternoon. Judgment was reserved. Inspector Thomson this morning received a telegram from Constable Maakay. of Martinborough, who relumed to that station from While Rook last evening, stating that, although he bad ecavched tbe coist for mil' 3 on either side of the scene of the disaster, the body of Captain Stevens, of the Liziie Guy, could not be found. The steamers Mana, from Havelock, and Wanaka, from Lyttelton, were coming in as we went to press. Judgment was delivered in Chambers this morning by the Chief Justice in the case of the New Zealand Land Settlement Company v. Rhodes' Trustees, a olaim for calls. Judgment was given for the plaintiffs for £845 10s, together with interest at 10 per cent up to the 15th December last, and 15 per cent._ from that date to the present lime, plaintiffs to pay defendant's cost. In the case of the New Zealand Land Settlement Company v. M'Beth, judgment was given for £166 Us sd, inolnding interest at 10 per cent, up to 15th Deoember hist, costs to be on the lowest scale. An information waa to-day laid by Mrs. Sunbeam, Tory-street, against Chas. Robson, for having, on Thursday last, committed wilful damage to a handcart of the value of £2. The case will be heard during the present week. _ Judgment was to-day given for the plainiiffs with coats in the following civil oases by Mr. Robinson, R.M. :— Judgment sum-monses-G. H. Poynter v. G. Matthews, £1 11s 6d, to be paid by monthly instalments ; Jelliooe v. Hooke, £3 13s 4d, amount to be paid within two months, or in default seven days' imprisonment ; Reid v. Randall, £8, amount to be paid within two months, or in default 7 days' imprisonment ; Waddington A Co. v. Robinson, £3 18s sd ; no order. Ordinary summons— H. Fielder v. E. W. Dumas, £14 lla 6d ; United Importers' Company v. P. O'Sullivan, £4 7s ; came v. P. Moroney. £58 16s j J. Thompson v. W. J. Hunt, £25 14s 2d ; W, A A, Kennedy v. J. Roddis, £28 12s ; J. Smith v. W. Hook, £4 0s ld ; same v. B. B. Vance, £6 ; Veitoh A Allan v. D. Mahoney, £6 0s 9d. The period during wbioh entries might be made for the 27 scholarships offered by the Board of Education expired yesterday. Ninety entries have bren meived, the number of candidate? from e;ch school district being ai follows :— Terrace, 12 ; Thorndon, 11; Te Aro, 10; Mount Cook Boys', 8; Newtown 6; Upper Hutt, 8; Mount 3ook Girls', 5; Masterton, Featherston, Petone, and Carterton, 4 p*ch ; Clarville and Johnsonville, 3 eaoh ; Pahautanni and Vogeltown, 2 each, Makara, Judjeford, Otaki and Kaiwarra, 1 each. The number of competitors from the publio sohools last year was only 56. At previous examinations pupils from Wellington College and the Girls' High School were allowed to oompete, but in future only ohildren from the primary sohools will be allowed to go ap. The Wellington, Petone, Johnsonville, Otaki, Kai¦warra, Makara, Karon, Pahautanui, and Vogeltown candidates will be examined in Ac Terrace Sohool by the Rev. Dr. West, on ;he 28th instant. The examination of the Wairarapa candidateß will be conduoted in the Greytown Sohool on the same day by the Rev. Mr. Western. An American paper says :— " A compositor on the New York World, set up type from the diotation of Edison's new phonograph. Two small tubes were fitted to his ears and oonneoted by a large tube with a phonograph. The latter was run by a small electric motor, and regulated by a pedal attachment by whioh it oould be started and stopped at the compositor's pleasure. The phonograph would talk off a sentenoe into the printer's ears, and then be stopped until he had put the words in type. This is obviously one of the many ways in whioh the machine may make iuelf hereafter a highly important factor of modern civilisation." It is stated that tho Marquis of Bath, with a property of 23,000 acres, and a rent-roll of some £19,000 or £20,000 a year, has sold his entire landed estate in County Monaghan, Ireland, to those who of late farmed his lands. The terms on which the transfer has been made are most favourable to the acquiring tenants. The landlord has received less than 20 years' purohase of rent, lately reduced by perhaps 20 per cent., and his tenants are now landowners, paying a small annual quit-rent to Government, and this but for 49 or 50 years. It is further stated that the tenants have purchased for oash the whole of Lord Bath's house property in the little town of Carriokmaoross for £15,000, independent of Lord Ashbourne's Aot, or of any Government or offioial assistance. Lord Bath (saya the Mark Lane Express) has set an excellent example, whioh some other Irish landowners might do well to follow. CONIOHPTIOH, SCBOFOLA, GINIRAL DIBIMTT. Wastixo Diskasis or Children, Crbokio Couqus and Bioxciims, can be cured by the me of " Boott'b Ejktlsiok o» Pn»« Cod Livu On with ErropßoaPEiTss." Prominent physicians nic it and testify to its great value. Please read the following:—" it gives me great pleuuro to assure you that • Scott"* Exuuiox ' bai proved Terr auccewfa in my practice. I have prMcribed it largely and Without a single failure. Thr nourishing power* ol < Scott's Ewtliiok ' are very marked and certain ; its taste is agreeable ) it doe* not, to far as I have heard, repeat. I recently gave it in a out of long standing tubercular disease, and at the end of a week wo* astonished at the improvement of the patient." Faithfully jours, J. Eislop Johxsos, M.8., Arc, „, a v „ JJ 00 * 11 "* 01 . Mid-Lothian, Scotland. Sold by all Cherc'its in Urge and small bottles,