THE SWEATING COMMISSION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 946, 18 April 1890, Page 9

THE SWEATING COMMISSION.

THE FIRST DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. Messrs J. R. Blair and D. P. Fisher, the gentlemen who were appointed to act in Wellington with Mr James Fulton, M.H.R., as a “Sweating Commission,” met that gentlemen at the Exchange Buildings shortly after 10 o’clock Wednesday morning. It appeared, however, that there had been some misunderstanding, the Parliamentary Buildings having been announced as the place at which the Commission would sit, whereas

room-i had been secured at the Exchange Buildings. Both Mr Fisher and Mr Blair concurred in the opinion that the Parliamentary Buildings would be better, and it was accordingly decided to adjourn thence. An hour later the Commissioners met in the Cabinet room, and the Commission was read, its principal clause being that defining the Bcope of the Commissioners, namely, to inquite into “the mode and terms in and on which persons are employed in shops, in wholesale aud retail trades and manufacturing business establishments, and in hotels and other licensed houses of public resort in New Zealand ; and, in particular, as to the mode and terms in and on which persons are engaged in supplying or making goods or articles for the owners or occupiers of such shops or wholesale or retail trading or manufacturing places of business or otherwise, and upon the relations generally of employer and employed, and the best machinery for determining matters and questions arising between them and relating to their respective interests.” The Chairman remarked that the "object of the Commission was broadly to take into consideration the relations between employers, and employed. That was very wide, of course : the Commission was simply called a Sweating Commission for convevience. Mr Blair suggested that it would be well to announce some definite programme of proceeding. As Mr Fisher could not attend during tho evenings of the present week, it was decided to sit in the daytime only, taking witnesses at any convenient hour of the day ; and that next week the Commission should sit in the evenings, if necessary, to take evidence. A SHIRT-MAKER’S TROUBLES. The first witness was a woman working as a shirt-maker. She stated that she was paid, for cutting out and making, 7a a dozen for cotton shirts, and Ss and 9s a dozen for Crimean and Oxford shirts, the warehousemen for whom she worked finding the buttons and cotton and other material. At this rate of remuneration (which she complained was not high enough) she made on an average from 25s to 30s a week herself, working from 8 to 5, and finishing the shirts in the evening after tea. It took her about eleven hours, in fact, to do twelve shirts, but one must be a very good hand to do that. She had to out them out in addition to making them. Some days, of course, Bhe could not do so much, so that the average of a dozen a day could not be kept up. The average earnings were 25s to 30s a week. The prices, however; were undercut by others, aud consequently very frequently she was refused work. She employed a girl whom she paid 12s a week, and occasionally ,an outside hand, whom she paid 2s a dozen less than the warehousemen paid, witness having to do the cutting-out. A year or two ago she could make £2 10s a week, because the prices were higher. Her husband earned £2 5s per week, and they had six children. For nightshirts she was paid 15s per dozen, and it took nearly a day to make a dozen. No attempt had been made to harass her into a reduction of price. THE EARLY CLOSING ASSOCIATION. Mr C. B. Robinson, a draper’s assistant, was examined by Mr D. F. Fisher, and said he was a member of the Early Closing Association, which he represented before the Commission. It was Lot necessary to have shops kept open at night, because people could make,their purchases during the eight hours places would be open during the day. Grocers, drapers, and most other employes in shops (excepting the ironmongers and large drapers, who usually closed at 6) worked from 8 a.m. to about 9 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and longer on Saturday, He knew of cases in which women had been permanently laid up through having te stand so many hours in the day. They were allowed to sit, though seats were not usually provided. Physically, of course, it affected the male employes; and the women, further, had to go home at 10 on Saturday nights, which was undesirable. He knew of a young man whose lungs were permanently injured by the dust of a Bhop. Mr Blair suggested that bad ventilation was a more serious cause of injury in shops than dust. Mr Robinson said it was dust in this case. About 25 per cent of the Saturday trade would probably be done after 6 p.m. The people who shopped at night were not all of the working class ; the proportion of better class people was astonishing. A deputation j headed by the Mayor was going to interI view the various employers ou the early closing question, and no doubt the result of those interviews would be laid before the Commission. Any other day than Saturday would be suitable for payment of wages. At Te Aro House, for instance, where he was employed, they were paid monthly. He thought all female employes should be brought under the operation of the Factory Act; and that the best way to achieve the objects of the Association was first by educating the public, and subsequently by legislation. The larger drapers of the city closed at 6 every evening. He believed the remuneration of drapers’ assistants was very good in Wellington as compared with that in other parts of New Zealand, and in Australia. He did not think lit was a fact that any number of girls could be obtained without wages. It was a fact, however, that a good many worked at dressmaking for lialf-a-crown a week, or for nothing for the first year. With respect to saleswomen, girls of say 16 years got about half-a-crown a week for the first year, and 1 were raised half-a-crown a week afterward. There was a commission attached to the work, which probably increased the remuneration by about half a-crown a week. Mr Fisher pointed out that these young women were not really graduating for any thing. Mr Blair : You forget, Mr Fisher, that the head women are artists, and artists only appear occasionally. , In further evidence, Mr Robinson said the bead woman would set £3 or £3 10s a week. In the dressmaking department girls got on an average 15s to 17s fid per week, and would not get any more than £1 unless they became head of the department.

Mr Fulton asked whether there was a practice in Wellington of taking girls on for nothin?, for half-a crown a week for a yeai, and then discharging them. Mr Robinson said it was done in other places, he was aware, but not in Wellington as far as he knew. Mr Fisher : Well, I know it is done in Wellington, but I can’t possibly bring the evidence. Mr Robinson, in further examination, said there was no difficulty iu obtaining appren* tices. . ... Mr Blair : Is there any attraction in the employment, then ? The wages are not high. Is it the gentility of it ? Mr Robinson : Well, the Colonial girl doesn’t like service, you know ; she’d rather go into a milliner’s or dressmaker’s shop. At service they get £2O or £3O a year and are found, but they are not allowed out at night and on Sunday. 1 suppose it is, as you say, the gentility. In answer to Mr Fulton, Mr Robinson 3aid the sanitary arrangements of all the places he was acquainted with were very good. He should propose that all Bhops, with one or two exceptions, should be closed at 6 o’clock in town and in country. The proposal was to introduce stronger measures- than those embodied in the Shop Hours Bill. Mr Blair suggested that the objects of the Association might be achieved by educating the public without the necessity of legislation. At this stage the Commissioners adjourned until half-paat 2.

STORY OF A TROUSERS-FINISHER. Mrs Nelson, a trousers-finisber, was examined next. She stated that she was paid 7d per pair for finishing, and usually did four or five pairs a day. Many times Bhe had worked four or five hours at home after leaving her regular employment. She used to make 14s or 15s a webk, and had made as much as 21s in a week. These earnings included the work at home: Eighteen shillings a week was the largest wage paid to favoured employes at the factory where the witness worked, and they were paid by the week. Her employer tested his apprentices fairly, and kept them on after their probationary term if they made good progress. At the factory where she worked 2d a pair less was paid than was paid at Thompson and i-hannon’s, and she did not thinls the work in that factory was any better. She thought that for working eight hours a day girls should got 25s a week. Work was frequently given out at evening which had to be brought finished by 8 next morning. The most skilled hands would earn about 22s or 23a a week on piece. The principal requisite in small, factories ■ was generally speed in doing the work. Coat workers made a good deal more, and one hand the witness knew earned 30s a week, being very quick. She knew a good many girls who had to pay 12s a week for their board and only earned 14s or 15s a week, and sometimes nothing. Most of the girls, however, lived with their parents, and two or three had come from Nelson to get work. These latter were earning very good wages, and they had their evenings and Sundays to themselves. The witness emphatically answered in the negative a question by Mr Fulton “ Do think such girls would make better wives ? ” though she qualified it by excepting the girls to whom she was referring. She considered eight hours a day quite long enough to work in a factory, and knew of women who were injured by machine work, because prices were so low that they had. to work the machine very fast. Sewing machines were not worked by machinery in Wellington.

TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. William McGirr, President of the local branch of the Typographical Society, was the next witness. He complained of the number of boys employed in the trade. In one establishment in which seven boys were at work, receiving an aggregate wage of £2 6s per week, six of these boys had to work extra on Thursday evenings without pay. Three females used to be employed as compositors there, and, until recently, the boys were given work to take home. In another establishment one man was employed as foreman, and the other employes mere boys who wore not legally bound. There were a few compositors, competent men, out of employment in Wellington, and the places of all these boys could be filled by men. He thought the Apprentice Act should be enforced ; and that bovs should be compelled to pass the fifth or Bixth standards before they were apprenticed. That, he believed, was done in one or two offices. One newspaper office in town was what was called “ a rat office,” though the men there earned, he believed, about £3 a week. In another newspaper office they only had two men, while another had 22. Mr Fulton pointed out that the complaint against boy labour was universal, and he asked what was to be done to remedy the evil ?

Mr Blair : Stop the production, Mr Chairman. Mr McGirr said he thought that should be done. He saw no reason against the employment of women if they were reasonably paid. Mr Blair said his experience was that female labour was worth about 30s a week aa compared with men. Mr MoGirr, in answer to further questions, said the Union had done a good deal of good to the craft. He had no doubt the public themselves were largely to blame for not discriminating in the quality of the work supplied to them. Mr Blair asked whether the position was that work was so cheap that boy labour was absolutely forced on employers ? Mr McGirr said no doubt; blit the employers started that in the first place .by doing cheap work. In further examination Mr McGirr said young journeymen applying for membership of the Society wore admitted on the favourable testimony of the board members in their shops. There was a defined programme which an apprentice had to carry out. The association had never aided boys to get a good training. Mr Blair laid stress on the neglect of the associations to provide for the training of

1 apprentices, and expressed an opinion that this was a legitimate call for legislative action. The Legislature stepped in and said doctors, lawyers, and others should go through a certain training, and it ought to be the same with printers. Apprentices, he knew himself, were very difficult to deal , with, for the reason that they knew they could join the Society if they simply served their indentures out. Mr McGirr said the country offices were to blame, no doubt. He thought the Society would be able to deal with the city offices, but what was wanted was some one to travel round the country offices and educate the people there. He blamed canvassers a good deal, also, for cutting prices down. This concluded the day’s proceedings, and at half past 4 the Commissioners adjourned until next morning, when Mr London, the secretary of the local branch of Amalgamated Railway Servants, will give evidence. Mr Fulton intimated that he had refused, while in the South, to go into the general grievances of the railway employes, holding that to be a function for a separate inquiry.