THE SWEATING SYSTEM IN AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9196, 27 October 1888, Page 5

THE SWEATING SYSTEM IN AUCKLAND.

From inquiries we have made there is reason to believe that " the sweating system" is just as prevalent here as in other parts of the colony, and through the severe competition existing the prices paid to women in certain branches of labour is as low, if not lower, than in London. One tailor states that the houses which give out material for slop clothing, give it out in the piece, the tailor having to find all trimmings and make the trousers for 10s, inclusive of trimmings. The result is the trousers are handed over to factories to be made, and the tailor goes idle. Perhaps there will be a factory with a foreman, a man, or boy for pressing the cloth, etc., and the rest of the work is done by the machine and by women. Here are some of tho rates given to the women or girls :—4d pur pair for finishing trousers ; making and finishing coats, 2s each ; ditto waistcoats, 'Jd. The prices paid by the local tailors, tradesmen, to their workmen, on the National average log, are over five times those rates, hence they rind it impossible to compete with any of that class of work. The girls in some of the factories get no pay at all the first three months, and the next quarter receive ss. a week, when they are required to make two or three coats a week, or tho equivalent in the making of other garments. The provisions of the Employment of Females Act are practically evaded by girls taking homo work, some of them working equal to twelve hours a-day to eke out their pittance. It seems the girls prefer the independent life of the factory and starvation wages to domestic service, and the proprietors of the factories find no difficulty in filling up vacancies on the low tariff quoted. A merchant, well acquainted with the whole question, thus gives his views : " Wo are desirous of giving the top price to labour, but we cannot run our establishment on philanthropic principles and at a loss; competition must be met by competition, and then you go round the vicious circle till you come to ' the survival of tho fittest.' The working classes are greatly to blame. They care only to get an article cheaply, and reck nothing as to whether it has been purchased at that tigure through the sweat and blood of their fellows. They could do much to prevent this inordinate undercutting. The whole question, I admit, is a difficult problem. As to the poor mothers, who want to take work out of factories to their homes, to maintain themselves or a sick husband, I see no hope for them. Even with the ordinary sewing machine to supplement their needles, they cannot compete with the single girl, and with the latest machines being introduced into the factories, doing 3000 stitches a minute !" It seems in some of the factories the price of the suit has not been raised through the operation of the tariff, but the difference of duty simply taken off the pay of the worker through a lowered scale for