MORTALITY OF BRITISH WORKMEN

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 196, 29 December 1876, Page 13

MORTALITY OF BRITISH WORKMEN

stizen of ££? Pe ° P 6> B : nd sometim es, in the vein of the patriotic and Zr nUtl** 6 r6qmre to be " cracked U P" But our might -mcSua aX -i e i nCe ffi re ? Ot ™ th ° Ut their dark side - Xt «an ™" who run y - ° ffioe the P art of tlie Solomon Eagles, rinnf a fZ t^Z' "™° el woe!" at every evidence that we If we do «f P ,? PIG - IT 6 had better look at our f airer as Pectsou™iM? f al i have leason to feel P roud of ourselves, of o?of S2' f* than . was e ™ r known in the realm of Pharaoh heath™ nW * *v* C \ Vl^^' which has spread light in the empir£L P the globe ' of our P ower > ™k is worthy of our That, wide as earth, and like the solar ray, Tot- -4- ?V: dlcs xt rou » d with an eternal day. W £ »**t + worst-and at its worst, we freely take it-British eSfeisni Tht«t e f 7 Sabl ! S i French bbluea # ue or Yankee spreadimitaX.' *f\r ni ost lamentable weakness about Britannia is her 'SetcheL^f •% ab y- 1 S^ eistoom^giventofrettingaboutthe emtleco "£ff Bor^oolagah, and slightly overlooking themisBritifn ?*™ ?* i maQy ° f her oWn pe °P le ' But in this respectGreat amon^ol^f- Ot mo^ indifferent than the most advanced £prnPtu?£ v at<?8 ', Mol>eover > the philanthropists Avho are Sf mon,Sf y bemoanm 2 tbe awful contrasts of riches and poverty, mm IPwLf^andviC^' 1 P wLf^ andviC^' r Mch P resent themselves among us, never ourbX • P Pri ra ICtlCal1 CtlCal plan for tbe assimilation of our worse to All EA » ? hase^, They have "° feasible scheme to propose. wSftj^^amors from Plato, with the model Republic, to Ruskin of Am a^ d + Pa^- h 1 ; a } l tke ™°PM* f™m Moore and his city of Amaurote, to Richardson and his city of Hygeia, can never SfcSSS f " ndesirabl « «^ments from their communities. ahlp » ft,7f Lazar + us \ av c been and will be. Bill Sykes is as inevitdo win nnf f^ % Archblsh °P of Canterbury. All the State can I vpf+n v s .^e"t\e passions, and it will take the State generations i Jur SiS ?%? c habl f s , of the multitude. Unhappily there are in Kjt thm f ??^ are well calculated to give us pause. All Som-rii atfcam , ed and that we are has been reacted by the in- ™, c Gn w^ J the resource ' th e ingenuity, and the industry of our people. We have paid dearly to arrive where we are, we pay a costly price to maintain ourselves there. Some of our most valuSStn^fi ? rke . rs ar< 7 xt H plahlj » ivin S their liTOS «P^oW the magnificent structure of the national greatness. And this sacrifice lrfJ n £% £*% T f/ nsl&n i Onl y- Dr - Purdon ' certifying surgeon of the Belfast Factory district, in his recent report, proves by tacts and figures that the death-rate among factory operatives is terribly disproportionate to the mortality among not only the aristocratic, professional, and mercantile classes, but ainon* the Z^f i and i laboj IeI ' ci ' s 1 - According to his return only fifteen per cent, of deaths took place in the upper classes, against twenty per cent, among the artisans and laborers, the death°rate rising to the exti-aordmary height of thirty-five per cent, in the factory class. Ihe mortality was highest m the preparing, reeling, and weavinodepartments, which are chiefly filled by females. Numbers of these Dr. Purdon reports, are obliged to leave their homes and families to work tor that support their husbands ought to provide. Numbers again being deprived of their bread-winners endeavor by mill and factory work to support their young families. In consequence they are obliged in numberless instances to send their infants during their hours of work to old women who make it their occupation IV, ?Q? Q ZTa °f, the llttle OneS> The result is an enormous inciease in the death-rate among the women hands of this class engaged in iactones, and also among the unfortunate infants whom the sore necessity of their poor mothers leaves at the mercy of the careless or crippled old creatures to whose charge they are committed. But as the picture is, it is brighter than that drawn of the Lancashire factory districts, where, in the first place, the employers, with the complicity of their workers, try the most dishonest means to evade the provisions of the Factory Act, and where not only does the mortality among female hands and their young exist as m Belfast, but also depraved morals and evil example ami associations rum toe male population while they are yet mere boys. It I is said that only the Factory Act can meet this wretched state of things but the Inspectors liave very small hope that legislation as applied will be efficient.—' Irish Times '