SWEATING.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 222, 20 October 1896, Page 2

SWEATING.

The Tailors Union have remonstrated with the Government over tenders accepted by them for tailoring for the Permanent Militia at Wellington. The Union points out that goods cannot bo supplied at the rate tendered, and anything like scale wages be paid to workmen. These are some of the prices :—Non-commissioned officers’ and men’s full dress trousers per pair, 8s 6d ; non-commissioned officers’ and mens’ Zouave trousers per pair, 9s 6s. The successful tenderer is Abraham Levy, Wellington. A great fuss is made about Chinamen and other undesirable immigrants who are accused of working at starvation wages so as undersell the European producers. Societies are formed, and receive the Premier’s blessing, given in stale, the members of which are pledged not to buy from them. The tender system is condemned by the Government with regard to local bodies because it leads to cut-throat competition and low wages, and on this ground the extravagant co-operative system has been introduced. In the Premier’s abortive Local Government Bill local bodies were to be compelled to see that a fixed wage was earned. The Factories Act was specially aimed at, suppressing sweating, and in the face of this hubbub here we have the Government accepting a tender and publishing it for general information, which any respectable wholesale house in the Colony would be ashamed to father. Anything like a reasonable quality of cloth at all is worth 2s 6d

per yard, and it would require sweating in the mills to produce it at that even. As they do not enlist men under a certain fixed stature into the Force 2£ yards would be under the mark to make a pair, but even this would cost 6s 3d; then the trimmings would be cheap at Is 3d, leaving Is for making a pair of dress trousers. To make the co-operative laborers’ rate of wages 8s per day a man would need to make eight pairs a day. Where does consistency come in ? It is only the other day at the eight hours demonstration that the Premier was applauded to the echo for his humanitarian sentiments on behalf of the toilers, but what gall and wormwood must such empty sentiments be to the poor sweated creatures who must be employed by Abraham Levy to tog out the nether limbs of a Permanent Militiaman at 8s 6d in all his glory. We hope for the sake of decency that the new commandant .of the Forces will see that no manoeuvres other than stand at attention ’’ are attempted by the Force in public when dressed in the Abraham Levy uniform.