Sweating in Melbourne.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 6268, 15 July 1890, Page 3

Sweating in Melbourne.

The Chief Inspector of factories in Victoria, is extremely innocent on sweating. He says 1 the difficulty of obtaining any reliable data upon whioh to form an opinion is so groat that “ very little is known about it.” “ Sweating ” appears to mean, he says, working outside a factory at a lower scale of prices than can be obtained inside under log prices. He has come, however, to the conclusion that many females prefer working at home, even at a lower rate of remuneration ; whilst many people, both male and female, work in a factory in the day time, and take work home with them as well, the inducement to the employer being that they will," do the outside work at less than log prices. “ These people are often the best workers in the factory, and if they prefer spending the evenings in this way rather than in idleness or amusement, they surely cannot bo blamed for it.” One of the means proposed to prevent sweating—namely, the prohibiting of all outside work —he entirely condemns, “ This would not only be a cruel hardship to many deserving people, but would also saddle the Stale with (he support of many who at present are able to earn their own livelihood.” This official is backed up by another inspector, who reports that he has “ not been able to discover that sweating exists in any portion of the Melbourne district.” The officers evidently have a notion of their own of the meaning of “ sweating,” and do not see the evils which the system the chief commends is bound to lead to.