THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4706, 26 July 1893, Page 1

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

«, Items of Interest to Workers Compiled for the " Star."; factory women in belfast. The Auckland Star recently had a: artiole on factory workers in Belfast Ireland, which not only revealed a most discreditable state of things, but threw an interesting side light on the question oi the religious feuds which often convulse that oity. The following are a fow extracts from the article in question :— -There hae been a good deal said lately about the -great wealth and extensive industries of .Belfast, bub it is a fact that thousands oi hapless women engaged in the staple trade of that oity are obliged to keap body and soul together on a pittance that can hardly be named without ronsing feelings of honeßt indignation, while the linen lords live in princely luxury. * * * The correspondent of a leading English journal, ■who was recently deputed to report on the conditions of labour in Ulster, states that ofall busy and steadily employed places Belfast is the most abjectly poor. In many of the principal linen factories a large proportion of the work is performed by •women and young girls. The wages received by practised female workers range from 5s to 10s per wee... This low tariff is Hot caused through excess of workers, for the demand for labour ia flo great that enough women and children cannot be pot to turn out the work. The sanitary c-a - dition of the faotories is generally disgraceful, and the women pursue their labours under conditions which bring large numbers to an early grave. In one section of the trade, the workers engaged in the process of tearing and combing the flax suffer from a fine dust called "ponce," which is fatally productive of phthieiß. In the spinning and weaving departments, where little, half-time girls, known ac " dofferß," begin their experience of work-a-day life, the excessive humidity and heat have a moat injurious effect upon the life and health of the spinners. It is not surprising tbat under such conditions there is an excessive mortality. The returns show that half of the deaths among 4he Belfast factory workers take place before the age of thirty, and that 67 per cent of the whole are due to phthisis and respiratory diseases. This prevalence of phthisis among the linen workers is not due to any local canse such aa e.imat'c influence, for there iB only a proportion of 136 per cant of deaths from consumption among the rest of the ponulat'on. It is, no doubt, true that whatever scientific application is tried the linen industry will always be, to a cci tain extant, an unhealthy employment, but complaints are made that the sanit .ry authorities have grossly neglected their duty with regard to the hygienic condition of tie factories, and that the linen lords as a body have shown little zeal in effecting improvement! conducive to the health of their employees. Ihere are other parts of the system, however, that reflect discredit on the matters, and that the numerous commissions that have inquired from time to time int> Belfast matters have been, so far, powerless to remedy. In the warerooms attached ta the factories. heprivilege'oflegalisedovertime is grossly abused, and many girb and women are kept at work till ten o'clock at' night without any interval for a meal between knocking off time and the commencement of overtime. The practice of giving out work to be taken home after working hours is common, and many women, impelled by poverty, toil till midnight finishing off the bnndle they have brought to their wret.hed lodgings. When, as a result of this prolonged labour, workers can only earn from 8s to 12s per week, and girls have as much as 7s and 83 per week to pay for board and lodging, it is not surprising that many of them whose sustenance ia chiefly tea and bread and butter are so exhauat.'d that they fail through sheer physical inability to keep up six successive dayß of toil at the mill, and lose on an average six weeks in the year. Their pittances are etill further reduced by a complete system of fines covering every form of mistake and neglect. SECTARIAN BITTERNESS. The same article saya :— There seems little prospect at present, that the condition of workers at the staple trades in Belfast will be improved by means of combinations on the part of the employees. A good many of the men have organisations of their own, but there is no vestige of trades unionism tobe found in the army of female workers. Oneof the greatest hindrances inthe way of united effort amongst the Belfast work-people is caused by sectarian bitterness. It ib the policy of the great millowners to foster -this spirit and to prevent anything like a fusion between the Orange and the Green. The employers are far-sighted enough to Bee that if the workers were left to themselves they would lose sight of religious distinctions in an effort to secure the common weal. They encourage, therefore, among an excitable people, thoße demonstrations which are only too successful in Ireland in prolonging ancient feuds. There are signs that if the people were not goaded on by interested landlords and factory kings they would mutually assist each other in asserting their rights. It is not long since the linen lappere, a superior body of men, tried to obtain improved conditions. In the demonstrations in their favour Orangemen and Catholics marched shoulder tc shoulder, and the rival bands, by way ol compliment, played each others regulation airs. The men were not euc.essful in theii demand, but the moral effect of the demonstration was important, and gave a ■rude shock to the "divide-and-conquer*"' •policy which so many of the employers hay. hithert- maintained. THB SHIPPING AND BEA_IF_.'S BILL. In reference ti the Shipping and Seamen's Bill, the Dunedin Globe says .—The present Act makes provision for ships to carry lifeboats, life rafts, and any amount o£ life-saving apparatus, but it does not make provision f t any men to be carried to man them in time of need. Tbe Minist._t for labour considers that men are necessary to man and work tte life-saving apparatus, bo as to give some prot .ction to the male and female ressengers on board. The shipowners evidently think diff .rent'y They wish to carry as many pas.en_rers as they think proper; but consideration oi human life is before shipowners' profit! and we -venture ta aseeit thnt the publu will agree with us ttat the very leas. travellers can expect is t-*at every precaution shall be taken f o ensure their safety. and this tnc 'Bill seeks to do. MOBE ASIATICS. The Queensland Sun says : — Tb< Japanese who have been brought in << work on the susrar plantations open up f •very serious question. It is claimed thai ■ihere is no intention to bring them int. .competition with white labour, but th< claim is in itself valueless, as when thi contracts have expired the Japs will floe. - into the towns and rnn the Chinese ver] close in shop-keeping and afe other worl usnally done by our Gwn people. It ma. be me&t.oned thatthe Japs were contractet for before the planters were aware thai Kanaka labour would be again available and that tbere is no intention to continue indenting them. Hundreds of white unemployed who went north for" 5 the crushing season will, however, find their placet taken by the cheap Japs. The Kanak. labour, under present circumstances enables the sngar planters to carry on and does not interfere with whitea; ir faot, it increa.ee the scope for them, bu 1

-m,mrnm*^m~m-mm~ __^^__ M «___«__«« W __lW_____raW» ihe Japs are difforent. Wo must not have them here any more than Chinese. JOTTINGS. The tailoresses employed at Messrs Beath, Scheiss and Co.'a factory, Melbourne, have been compelled to accept the terms dictated by their employers, by which they are to secede from their Union. ] ) They are now about forty of tho late J J unemployed, says the Marton Mercury, working at bush felling on the Govern--1 ment State farm at Wairaki. They are 'i mostly from Australia, are working in t camps of five each, and seem to be doing 1 well. ' The main outfall sewer being constructed 3 by the Metropolitan Board of Works, J Melbourne, will be completed Bhortly ' at a coat, including fencing, of about 5 _G240,000. The work has so far been done in a satisfactory manner, the progresa haß been rapid, and the cost, on 5 account of the peculiar condition of the • h-bour market, has been remarkably low. ' The more recent contracts entered into • have been let at a lower price than the ' woik could be done in almost any part of tho 1 world. At the present rate of progress Mr > Thwaikes, the Engineer-in-Chief, expects 1 to h ave Melbourne connected with the main 1 \ sewer in about twelve months. 1 The past month, says the Napier Tele- ' graph, has been an unusually heavy one 1 as regards the distribution of outdoor relief by the Charitable Aid Board. Mr Cohen, the Chairman, thinks that it is not 1 a sign of the bad times, but ia due to the incessant heavy rain that has fallen here during the last few months. The result was that the working classes had suffered —men who had outdoor occupations could not work, - and when they did earn anyj thing it was barely enough to keep their families, which were in most caßeß large. He has had to pay a great deal in the way of outdoor relief lately, but in some caßes he relieved temporarily, and asked the applicants to come before the Board. " A Disgusted New Zealander" write, to the Dunedin Slar, stating that "a recent arrival from Australia applied in a northern town for work in a blacksmith's Bhop. Asked where he last came from, he said Melbourne, and was politely ordered out of the shop. Next plaoe be appUed at he said that he was from Auckland, and secured the coveted billet. Somehow or other it leaked out that he had come from Australia, and the sack followed." It is to be hoped, for the credit of humanity, that the writer of the above has been misinformed. It has been officially announced that the loaders of the Seamen's Union in New South Wales long recognised that in the present state of the trade reductions would be necessary, and they had for some time under consideration a scheme for meeting the master., by proposing that the - men should be allowed to accept a certain percentage of reduction, and in return for thia concession they (the men) were to be granted a participation in the profit-. This scheme, itis alleged, was submitted to the owners, but they would hear nothing of any proposal to give the Unions a joint interest in their businesses, so that the matter waß dropped for a timer