SWEATING IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, July 12.

Otago Witness, Issue 2732, 18 July 1906, Page 31

SWEATING IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, July 12.

An exhaustive report has, been issued by the special committee of the Labour Council on sweated labour in Sydney. Its findings set forth : — Slavery does exist in Sydney to-day. Our women and little children are daily drawn out of the slums and made to pass under the hammer of the inexorable auctioneer employed by capital. The crack of the slave-owneT's whip is legally forbidden, but daily thousands of unwilling slaves go on with their allotted tasks to the stunting of their physical and mental growth, and often to ultimate destruction, body and soul. Many of the cases investigated, especially those instances, in -nrhirb. children are the victim-

'■, ised slaves, disclose such a hideous systfeTßl sots ot brutality as to almost justify a denial of our boasted civilisation, while the., term 3 " Christian " applied to a city where <m- - s ployers thrive on downright slave-dealing fr is an awful raisnomei-. Our search dis- - B closed heartless conditions in connectfim' ' with the dairying industry. Soap and . candle works and boiling-down establislis ments- loiitlly proclaim' ffife presence of the '- ' sweater. Jam, biscuit, lolly, and pickle ■ factories are dens under his direction, and , the fruit-canning industries, potteries, £ and kindred industries claim, their -toll ; i and though but a little • distance was • r . penetrated your committee is appalled at l the deep-dyed sweating that flourishes in I various abhorrent forms. Girls were emI ployed by a certain firm for periods rang--s ing up to two yeans for nothing, and * afterwards paid half a crown a week. ! . There were instances where dismissal took » place when the probationary period p ended. One clothing factory is described 1 as not fit for a pig. The wages paid wer^ ; 7s 6d for 48 hours. >