SWEATED WOMEN-WORKERS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10976, 16 June 1903, Page 4

SWEATED WOMEN-WORKERS.

~^~T~7. s*' ■•■• ' ■ ' '' •'!)•■■ i: • The lot of the., worker in, il?nglandi.,as-!conihi ';s>a-Todi!.wlth condiiidns noiv-'prevailißgu in" . N.gw Zealand nnisfe faxcil;ti tho ( syin^atily of all who realise.^vrik't'^cqnunual'a'ncl^iaUy 'hopeless struggle against poverty" means. Some figures pertaining to this question quoted by a writer in the London Daily Expros.^ make instructive reading. There i ar.e ■ 107,848 dressmakers employed , by •various firms in- London ; the highest wages obtainable — except in the case of about a dozen heads of departments — are ]8s a week. '/'The girl who makes the exquisite Court dress, the costly robes- worn by society, receives 18s a week as a maximum salary, with a slack season of two to three months a year." Milliners in London havo^to serve a two years' apprenticeship, "and then receive from 12s to 20s

»a week, except in the slack Beason. whon ; tho earnings- fall off considerably. Shojr^ assistants , average < X2Q a year an wages.; . - They are provided also with board and lodging huf this, is often of f a very, in- , • different" character.' A trained nurse eataift 1 - ■ from to -£1-0 a year; with board "ami' " lodging, and a washing allowance iC in an hospital. "In the main, howevor, we are told, "the profession is most precwi-' oils, and among the rank and- file-' great' want is often experienced." Teaching, iutt spite of tho years of preparation $&'d train- , , ing required, is vory poorly' remurfnratod • . in .the case of. women*. High , schoql .and.V . . board school teachers in England .earii,pn=. nn'avQr^g^i from £?& to- ,^100. ' There- art ; . -"•plmns"' isa-thja/jp'rofassion /as 'in 'ol'Sd'rs/' ; 'but tiieyAre ,cqn>par,ativ'ely' few. In^t]" 5 ; (i j CjiVil Service a woman can earn morcthan^.,,;, { >£li)f) "a ,yQar;, but onlj aftpr year^sof, Her-,- , ,, ,vipc. For clerical -work, the, remuncjarfipß;. » - 11 is. poor .in the' cxtf6'm i e; and wh'brthaiul ''V trplsta "can bo obtaipetl l>y the'scord^or ' ' < thc"ptiti'c l oly -vywgp of^lQs! ft ■wfeelcJ M M^UpuJ. ( sands 0? women of tiM},yß\«Wte cfe«e?«^,iu ", v England,. are absolutely dependent? fof' 'a ■ living • upon the scanty wages" they ' nrafy v earn at one.pr other of these cmp'lb'ymeHta.; Is it surprising .that 'many of them 'sffiEj, / through ill-health or lack of; work, from bare existence to absolute : penury? "They •'toil more or less intermittently, through' 1 , change or slackness of ' employment;- foV something under aya v po)ind a week, with no future , bbf ore t'hei^j a saddened 'old "ge, with the- gr^iC-Wro^ wall's, of ,' tbci workhouse' as the end; of tl^ek tragic-Jiycs-. J l It needs no' vivid- imagination to picture- . the dull trWedy .such condition, signify? ■^ ' But' thedc poor , victims of *,tlie commercial '_ , system form only .» small contingent -•>« \ the' great ,army., estimated. at^wcl\pinii!l ; T, lions, who. are eontiniially oh. $he> ver^e r og?; star va-tion in , Britaiii: In ■ thW ligh.^ ' >in^ such facts^ to bewail the declining- birtH- T¥atc secniß the cruelest mockery. •..;-/ r .