fit* TfuuflMGi %m\t [PUBLISHED SAIZiX.J THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1905. "THE SONS OF THE SHIRT." — 1 O 'i .

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11645, 24 August 1905, Page 4

fit* TfuuflMGi %m\t [PUBLISHED SAIZiX.J THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1905. "THE SONS OF THE SHIRT." — 1 O 'i .

The trades and labour leaders in this colony profess to be dissatisfied with the progress of industrial legislation during the past four years, quite oblivious of the fact that the lot of the workers is daily being improved by reason of the facilities afforded them under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act to better their condition if they have reasonable grounds for believing that it is not as it should be. The Act provides for varying industrial agreements, and so many and so frequent have been the demands of labour in connection with increased pay, shorter hours, and improved conditions generally that the Arbitration Court has been quite unequal to the task of getting even with the work placed before it. And yet withal the trades and labour leaders complain that nothing has been done for years in the interests of the workersl Did the former but contrast the deplorable conditions under which large numbers of the workers are employed in. the Old Land with the position of the .workers in this colony they would probably better appreciate the efforts that have been put forth on their behalf by the Liberal Government. In an English Blue Book just issued some painful revelations are made by the factory inspectors concerning the condition of some of the women workers. Miss Sadler, for instance, writes at length on the evils which have come under her observation in the London, 1 dressmaking and millinery trades. She- refers, amongst other things, to the discovery of a subterannean passage leadingf'Sfent" the premises of one of the largest Urms in London, to large workrooms underground in which* after the usual hours, of labour, women and girls were illicitly employedworking overtime. In' marked contrast to the provisions of our Factories Act, in which every precaution, is . taken to protect the workers and ensure their health and comfort, is the condition ,jjf many, of the factories in England.. .v inhere little consideration is shown for the "health or convenience of the employees, who are outrageously treated. Miss Martindale states that in the majority of workrooms visited in Staffordshire potteries she found every window closed and often the ventilators carefully stopped up. In remonstrating with the workers she was invariably met by the excuse that an open ventilator caused "face-ache"- and sore throats. The year 1904, as regards the women 'inspectors' work under the Truck Acts, was ..decidedly-. marked, ■ Miss Ander--son says, by the unusual number of diffi-

cult cases "to test the meaning of the law taken v into court with Treasury assistance. The proceedings were taken in 23 separate cases, against seven employers, only twelve convictions beings registered, against five employers. The uncertainty of the law is clearly seen in the exceptional number of cases dismissed although trained legal assistance was given. The history of each case is, however, full of significance. The following is quoted from a report by Miss j Squire: —^'ln a London case, machinists at a collar factory had been made to purchase collars because they had mistaken the verbal directions given them, and Had stitched the linen on the edge instead of leaving a border. The work was perfectly done, but the stitching was not according ! to the order... In one case " a- worker was ' charged £1- Os 6d for six dozen collars, the price- she earned being Is 9d . on the six dozen; on the other she was charged 9s for six dozen collars on' which she had earned five farthings a dozen. A girl in the laundry had had to buy ten collars for 3s 9d, being" paid 2£d per dozen for ironing them; the linen had cracked wlien folded, but there was no evidence to prove that this was the fault of the ironer.' In I Leeds the Magistrate was called upon to hear a case concerning four girls who were ' employed as machinists in a clothing factory. These girls had to buy trousers upon which they had been employed, be- k cause in one case a hole, and in the other a spot of oil, had been found in and upon them. Three of the girls had Is 2d each deducted from their wages in respect 'of the pair of trousers in which the tear was found. It was admitted that only one of them could have been to blame, and that failing to prove which, they were all fined. One of thees girls was away ill when the deductions were made, ,so the money was taken "off the wages of a sister who also worked in the factory.. The trousers were raffled in the works by the/ girls. In the case of the fourth girl, it was not known whether the trousers had ever passed through her hands at all, but as they must have passed through hers or those of another girl, the whole of the wage of one girl, i.e., 4s, and 2s of the "other girl's wages were kept back to pay for the trousers, which were handed over to the girls,. aged"^ls and 16. j Many other similar instances of cruelty and oppression might, be quoted, but '.b* above will suffice to show that tho wors *'s ] of New Zealand have gained Eiuon by i.' c progressive legislation, passed t-y thf pre sent .Government, and they are nat likely to forget the fact, as some would ha-f them do.