FACTORY 'ANDS.

NZ Truth, Issue 328, 7 October 1911, Page 3

FACTORY 'ANDS.

LABOR LAWS CONSIDERED.

A Foolish Female Who Fell.

A Travesty ou Humanitarian

Legislation

[From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.]

It is about time that the conditions of factory labor m this country were looked into by the Government, as they are at the present time a disgrace to the community and a danger to our young people. •The male portion of the factory workers are perhaps not so worthy of consideration of the female portion as they are better able to protect their own interests, but certainly the female portion needs THE GUIDING HAND OP> A STRONG MAN to bring its position before the public and Parliament to ensure for it a wage which will enable it to keep body and soul together without being driven to augment its earnings by veiled prostitution. ' It is a singular fact, but true, that factory hands have been the slowest m Ward's Borrownetcy fto take advantage of the opportunities granted them m the Arbitration Courts, and the consequence is that Fat is the sole arbiter as to what their wages shall be, and Fat generally takes care that these wages shall be just sufficient, m the case of the male workers, to keep body and soul together and such that a laborer would, turn up his nose at them m disgust. As regards the female workers, their wages are a beggarly pittance, which it is criminal to expect a woman to feed, let alone clothe herself on. .''Truth" is prompted to make these remarks by the case ,of a yoiing girl which came before the Dunedin S.&f.'s Court some -time ago. This unfortunate girl was seventeen' years of . age, and had been betrayed by a steward on a Home boat with \ the usual consequences. She was applying to have her infant commit- I ted to an industrial school, and the i question of her ability to contribute.] t,o its maintenance was gone into. The girl, m reply to the S.M_, saitf 1 that she had been working for Hudson and Co., the wealthy Duneddn Biscuit firm, for the huge salary or honorarium of 12s 6d per week ! Just fancy ! Twelve lovely shillings and a bright new saxpence-for • 5-£ days' work m a biscuit factory. The girl's case was a sad one. Her parents were both dead and she had NO RELATIVES TO HELP HER. Out of her 12s 6d she paid 10s per r week for her board and lodging, and had the balance of 2s 6d per week left to buy boots, clothing,.., hats, etc., with. ■' A weak-willed young woman, with v no parental control, she had fallen -\ an easy victim to this cockney -fj curry-slinger, but supposing she had.* t>een a girl whose desire for coin-J fort had been subsidiary to her.-:! sense of morality — what then ? She ■ Would have joined the large band of • underpaid female workers who, m i this so-called workers' paradise of ours, secretly h^ve their earnings augmented by "gentlemen friends," and who, tiring ultimately of the irksomeness of ill-paid toil, openly join the band of unfortunate "Flossie." Could she be blamed? "Truth" opines not. The ruin oi" this girl— who has since gone into domestic service — cannot be laid at the door of her plutocratic, generous late employers, but the moral and physical ruin of '] hundreds of ther girls m Wardland can be laid and is laid at the door of Fat employers, and no amount of big donations to so-called, phihrn- •' thropic institutions like the V.M.C.A., and_ no regular attendance at some high-toned gospel shed will refute that fact or blind the eyes iOf the public to it. Beautiful board and lodging this ■ poor girl must have .got for lOs per ' week. Also, wonderful clothes she must have got for the 2s 6d. No wonder she fell to a blackguard, who would no doubt have a few shilling's, and be able to take her to ' amusements, which she was never likely to see otherwise herself.- --' Her pay could even have been worse than it was according to our wonderful Factories Art. This monument to the philanthropy of ' our legislators allows a girl at the age of 16 years to enter a factory at the wage of 5s per week. Thereafter it must rise by annual increments of 3s per week". So by THE SANCTION OF TTTF, L.AW this" orphan gii'l^ot 17 years of age, could have been paid the huge sum of 8$ by her employers, ta feed, house, and clothe herself on A j "Truth" rep. was assured by a competent authority that there are ! many .-'rls ov \voir.en of 20 years ot age whQ ju<e earning little, ii any-. , "tiuiH. J!'.f>H> than ih's 'girl did ! I What a travesty on our .Roasted humanitarian lpg'uOat'on \ The thing |is a legalised menses to the morals of our young woaicn. A vepresenta- - 1: '• ff I/se .'r. "<rr-'d ""I'rutU" ve;>. i t U.'.' l, '*ny of tl:e iols (o [life women worketg. jp biscuit five-

I j lories were not worth more than, a few shillings a week. May tie not, I fr<om Fat's point of view, but that is beside the question, and Fat can , safely be left to worry out the mat- i ter for himself. The whole question is, are our young women, the future mothers of out. lighting men, who, amongst other things, may be called on some day to protect the property, wife, ancl daughter of Fat from a howling horde of Chows and Japs, to be permitted to sweat their souls out for a beggarly few shillings doled out weekly ? Further, are the daughters of the worker who fills Fat's i capacious purse, buys his wife and : daughter diamonds, and himself a ■ big motor car anil a mansion, to be compelled to prostitute themselves In order to obtain a. few oi the conir forts which Mrs Fot lavishes on her fat, asthmatic poodle ? "Truth" says u,o, ancl Fat will learn it to . ' his cost some d_vy.