9

H.—s

160. Ido not know what Mr. Moore got for the guernseys. When I told him they would not pay he said if I did not take one line of goods I could not get the other. I had to take the guernseys in order to get the pants. He said he could not possibly give more. 161. It did not cost much for the wear and tear of the machine, as I seldom broke a needle. One shilling a month would cover the wear and tear of the machine. 162. To have made 12s. a week during factory-hours I should have required pants alone. In an hour and a half I could make a pair of pants all through : that means seaming them by hand, machining and finishing them, and pressing them. For that I received 6£d. each. I have always been considered above the average as a machinist, and quick at work. 163. I got pretty constant employment, and would make 15s. 6d. a week, working about twelve hours per day. If I had not employed the child to do some of the work I could not have made that amount. 164. During the eighteen months I was at this work I did not suffer from ill-health of any consequence. When I have felt ill I have more or less blamed the sewing-machine for it, and so did Dr. Brown ; but I have only had him to see me twice since I had the work. I blamed the machine for the pain in my side, and for indigestion. lam not troubled with indigestion when Ido not do that sort of work. I used to be troubled with the nerves till two or three months ago. I used to be in that condition I could not hold a book in my hand; but I have been away from the machine and from Dunedin for three months. Miss D. examined. 165. lam a knitting-machinist, and work for Mr. Laidlaw. Before the Union was formed I worked for Mr. Moore. I worked for him for three years, and up to a time shortly after the Union was formed. 166. In consequence of the Union Mr. Moore gave me three months' holiday. 167. I was working piecework in the factory, and there were sometimes thirty girls or women working in Mr. Moore's factory. Some of them seemed rather less than fourteen years of age. There was one girl who worked for half-days, because she was under fourteen. Six were fourteen, and a lot were fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen years of age. 168. It was all knitting work, and I did different kinds, stockings and socks. 169. Mr. Moore was working for Messrs. Eoss and Glendinning principally, but he took work from different places—shops and private places, I think. 170. Ido not know what prices he got. For coarse socks of the kind I used to make most of we got Is. 6d. a dozen. Working very hard for eight hours I could make twenty pairs, but I could not keep that up every day. I took them home and sewed them, and got 4d. a dozen for that. If I had not taken the socks home I should have done fully a pair less per day, because there was some finishing that was left over. 171. I have been twelve years at the work, and am an expert. I was nine years at Mrs. 's. There were no others could do as many as lon the same machine. The next to me made seventeen pairs a day. Some girls would not make a dozen pairs a day, and they were engaged at piecework the same as myself, and would get the same price. Some work was Is. 9d. a dozen : that was a different sort of work ; and the one-and-sixpenny work paid better than any of the other kinds—you would make more of them. That was before the formation of the Union. 172. In consequence of the formation of the Union and the part I took in it, I left Mr. Moore, and have since been working for Mr. Laidlaw. 173. I told Mr. Moore I could not wait three months, and he told me to get work elsewhere. We had to pay a little to Mr. Moore for breakages; but sometimes they paid for my breakages— they seemed to favour me in that. Sometimes large pieces of the machines would be broken, costing 7s. 6d. or 4s. to repair. Of needles, we were breaking one or two a day, and we paid Id. each for them at first, and afterwards we got four for 3d. Nearly every second day we would require threepennyworth of needles. Some machines were pretty old. Mr. Moore always " sorted " them as near as he could. 174. Sometimes, if I had a shilling to pay, Mrs. Moore would pay half of it. From 9d. to Is. a week would pay for the breakage of needles. At Mrs. 's many a time the money for breakage of needles was deducted from my wages, but not at Moore's. I was there paid my wages in full, and I paid for the needles that were broken. I had a bad machin?, at Mrs. 's, and in one fortnight, during which I earned a pound, there was 2s. kept out of it for breakages. 175. Mr. Laidlaw paid me 3d. a dozen more than I had at Moore's. Before the Union began Mr. Laidlaw paid me Is. 9d. for socks instead of Is. 6d. He gave me Is. 9d. a dozen before the log came out for what I had been paid Is. 6d. 176. There are about thirty working in Mr. Laidlaw's factory. All do not do piecework: there are two winders and one presser on wages, and I think one other. All the rest are on piecework. 177. The factory is a pretty large room : there are six windows in it, and it is well ventilated. No complaint is to be made as to the sanitary arrangements. It is very much better than Mr. Moore's. I did not complain of the other places. I lived near, and went home to dinner; but those who stayed there were not at all comfortable in the winter time—they had to stay in the yard, or passage, or packing-room, as they are not allowed to be in the workroom during dinner-hour. 178. I do not think I have seen the Inspector of Factories at Mr. Moore's or at Mr. Laidlaw's. I never heard of him being there, but he may have been. 179. Ido not know what steps are taken to ascertain the ages of the workers. A girl is supposed to be fourteen when she comes to work, and I think they take her word for it. 180. I have known girls about fourteen at Moore's.