THE HOME OF STEEL

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6703, 29 December 1908, Page 7

THE HOME OF STEEL

LIFE AND LABOUR IN* SHEFFIELD,

t orrr grown without design. (BY CHARLES C. READE.) In uontrnat to wooded liill.s ami 1 F 1 long radiant vnlloys of tlm provimm nothing coi-.ld ho inure pmvorful nr dramatic thou the liisi-nrin and hnsy centro of Shollioltl. IMacnd as it is in a neighbourhood of wondrous charm 1 and sylvan glory, the city and its immodiaLe environment arc iioindcssH unboanlifiil. From bins emincneo of| tho Great Contra] Victoria Station tine oyo is greeted by n. sea. of blackened .roof* and chimney pots .straggling from; a gloomy valley to tlm hills beyond, Itj lies before one naked in ugliness, what \Vich its miles of crooked and cranky Streets, i>s endless chimney shafts and olatod roid's, crowding in from a remote horizon to I lie eminence where the: Town Hall points a ponderous ami! sooty tower lo the .smoke stained skies., I Sheffield is a characteristic example' of a city grown without design mid at-/ taining blindly to the proportions of at metropolis through a century of industrial revolution. fn most .manufacturing towns in Britain there Is nn-1 uaily an area more or less defined,' where Uio factories do not intrude. In bhoflinld they appear lo ho everywhere.! There is no place sacred from tho! desolating inllnoneo of tiro tall slml'l] with ftn nlond of sinnkc. 'l’lie old; streets are very narrow and full of irregularities. The houses and streets for tho most part in these areas are iwoltin.gly dirty. ft is necessary to see Sheffield under] sunlight and ruin to realise, if need he,j what certain environments niul activities may antail upon the mass of the people. Tho rain subdues, tho city into’ Masson of roof and. shaft reaching with l uncertain outline through tho smoko.' The narrow streets loom up in web; indefinite perspectives, and all their mass of men. and horsos, carts and waggons lurching across tho cobbles are smudged into, the picture. Sunlight on the other hand accen-j . tuatoa every detail with curious natlj persistent aggressiveness. Every door pud window, and every dirty face and 'greasy garment thrust themselves upon |ho observation in brazen ugliness.j Dirt a.ndl poverty seems to spare one, flot a detail of their shamelessness. Overhead tho smoko hangs a listless brown! canopy in the sunlight. In tho hot humid streets and tho long Mack build-' tugs, tho florno relentless activities off Mon and women pass unceasingly, and po making of groat riches on the one flnnd and greater poverty on the other! tails its story afresh. One looks for, beauty in vain. It fled to the hills! years ago—the hills where there aro! 'bo many fine homes and bright clean, jfoooS. Is it not enough fo 'make us, wonder how far tho riches of tho one 1 taro tho price, of tho other? AMONG THE SLUMS.

A a I writ© these things of the great itool centre, a recollection of a. certain district down in the valley comes to mind. It was just toward evening I was taken there by 11. ".shimmer.” Wo wandered down Inno after lane, narrow and dirty and dominated by that' overwhelming souse of disorder. Children in droves, unwashed women gossiping <m the doorstepd and grimy workmen grouped by the veritable “shanty” that did duty for an hotel. There was something in their appearance and ■their attitude that scorned to reflect the dirt and the squalor of the houses |n which they lived. In many cases two and three families shared ono house. The overcrowding was typically illustrated by a case where wo found a ahourer—an unskilled worker in at neighbouring foundry*—living with his; wife and six children in two rooms.' Across some of the streets linos oh Washing wore hung for tho reason that there was no backyard for the purpose. In ono part there wore several largo' tenement dwellings where makers of! cutlery lived and worked. The land-| lord, it appears, provides . tho light, power and furniture for which workmen Ey a ront that absorbed from ononrth to one-third of their earnings. Some of tho buildings over a dozen workmen and their families wove housed, several occupying threo rooms, the majority two. and some only ono. The houses for tho most part were old, leaking, and dilapidated, and the coudi. tie ns under which workmen laboured jpnd their families existed were nothing jnoro or loss than revolting. Sheffield is not extraordinary in this ffsapaot. One oan find similar examples 's! disorder existing in every large Manufacturing centre They all pn-r----jtako more or less of tho same character, /Varying principally in tho degree of Smoke that pollutes tho atmosphere and TO® filth tlnat soema inseparable from jtho houses. Collectively they present |i problem that England, in contrast to Germany, has been only tardy in re‘tiogulsin'g. Tho first rush of impression transfixes tho stranger witli horror and for tho moment lt> hovers between tho wonder and the terror of tho grim ■Ptarieg reality ib 'reveals, i Tho effects upon n. people of housing conditions so defective, and accompanied by all their corollaries in dirt, .disoaao, moral ruin and degeneration, aro thfngss ovory community, young or old, should certainly realise. The Importance of it i» well demonstrated in an edict issued hy tho Minister of tho Interior for Saxony (Germany) in 1001 when ho said '‘ln proportion as tho housing conditions are insufficient, the general working and_ disease-resist. I.ng powor of tho population is weakened, tho outbreak or spread of certain serious diseases, especially typhus, oonimption, and syphilis, is promoted, morality; and contentment are undermined, intellectual training is lowered, and at tho;same time the economic success of the individual citizen and, tho general welfare of the community ate MicTawrered and injured.” ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY.

Compared with, other English cities, Sheffield comes thirteenth on the list of highest deaths rates. Out.of the total of 7475 deaths, 3129 were childten under the age of five years. Two-, thirds of tho children died before attaining their first year. Could anything bo more striking than such a rate of infant, mortality? A detailed examination of the figures shows clearly that tho mortality amongst children (which is very high in all industrial centres in England and Scotland) is duo to causes directly traceable to defective surroundings and • insufficient feeding.' Lack of food and sunlight, supplemented., by congested conditions and parental ignorance,... are just the things that make thinking men appre-

tensive for the future of the race. AYlmt is meant by congested conditions in Sheffield is .shown by the. fact that in prior district® tho density of people, housed on every acre works at 1:;7.6. Compared with pauper areas in Manchester or Liverpool the overcrowding is far from being exceptional. Unfortunately that does not rob 'it of any of its deadly aspects. On the, bills to tho west of Sheffield, where tho smoke can .seldom penetrate, there are many charming modern homes' reared amid trees and flowers, /fhe suburban electric ear glides merIrilv on lo their s-elmled heights, bearing bright-faced children ‘and wolljdreased people out to tho sunshine. It is only as it should bn for in such things—in these modern garden sub,urhs England is beginning to rear—lone reads the hope of tho future.

The hills of Sheffield serve to acccnjtnatn flic horror of the valley. It is la contrast Unit for all time, will hold [with condemnation the memory of goring above the sickly waters of the [Don. It was Urn Don that centuries lago drew the primitive cutler to ! l'lo bis grinding by it.- verdant banks, and Imm such beginnings sprang that jroniiinco of industry tho tremendous ifaseinat on of which is strangely belied Iby what is now a paio stricken Hood winding amid fierce panting factories ion the one hand, and desolation and pnisory on the other. In bygone days ,ere the white wizard was harnessed to [tho chariot of industry, the manufactures of England wore principally [conducted in the homes of the workin's. EVery house was a, factory, and every factory demanded its toll of labour from father, wife and children alike. To all intents and purposes, the father was the embodiment of 'owner, board of directors, manager, [working: foreman, and shareholder. [Such ol these domestic labours, that [still survive the revolution effected by |tho invention of power and machinery, are termed "Homo Industries.'’ /Nowadays it is around these home in[dustrios that some of the most difficult (social and industrial problems gather. Sheffield clings with singular tonaojity to the old conditions under which 'cutlery grew to bo one of its flourishdug industries. Although there are a [number-of largo factories • there are [many folk who live and work in [largo tenements* l or in small workshops controlled by small employers. There are something like (1200 of those workshops in existence. (They are to bo found chiefly amongst [tho most crowded areas in the city, ,and as may bo well imagined the 'health conditions aro wholly bad and insanitary. THE CUTLERY TRADE. Out of tho 15.600 people who represent tho cutlery trade of Sheffield, there aro some 2500 females employed, the majority of whom are unmarried. (Whilst working hours in Sheffield generally run from fi a.in. to 5 or 5.30 p.ra., many of those girls can only earn from 9s to 12s a week. To see these girls at work in front of their* benches, [filing, rubbing, and polishing, to .breathe tho atmosphere in which they (work week by week, year in, year out, to note their modest meals of bread and dripping—maybe butter .sometimes —a mug of. stuff called tea, and occasionally a particle of moat or fruit, .cannot but make one marvel at the •system which orders such things to he. I came across a unique case of female labour. It was one of those minor tragedies of an individual life swamped in the ocean of toilers. The. foreman of a very well-known establishment pointed out to mo, with some pride, a woman at a bench filing and polishing scissors. Her withered 'features and scant grey locks suggested “four score years and ten.” She had come in as a girl of fourteen and had been toiling at that bench on piecework for fifty years. Previous to that she had worked from childhood in a “homo” workshop. Her wages had, acorfling to the foreman, reached “as high as 23s per week in her prime.” I give his words. “Isn’t she a wou|dor,” ho said admiringly, “sixty-four /years old and still working?” , “Remarkable,” was all that I dared ito reply.-

•Usually a building of several floors sub-divided so as to give separate accommodation for a number of families.