967 5 CN] <！-- C. <！-- <， Eºccº-cº-ºcc Eſſº s . . . . . . ; Sºxxº * - ...} . ...: - - - Sºś9. - HITITITTTTTTTTTITIIIHIKº HIHF \*-º-º: :??3. | --~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ş | ; É TS 5T , Tºš57 y 1" 3. BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. –2 3/4 º THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES, AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS. BY G. PHILLIPS BEVAN, F.G.S. ^ -" - ~~ *...*.*.*~~~~ Lºr---.” -->"N ºx->~~~~~~. TEXTILES AND CLOTHING, FOOD, SUNDRY |NDUSTRIES. ^_^ z^-w^e"Neº- WITH MAPS. LONDON : EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING GROSS, S.W. 1877. -Te 357 J. : H INTRODUCTION. To the series of volumes which bear the title of the ‘British Manufacturing Industries, I have thought that a pendant might with great propriety be added, dealing with that large section of our population employed in those manufactures. Hitherto we have been engaged with the nature of the work done; it is now proposed to take up the subject of the worker. It is singular, even in these days of social science, to note how scanty and scattered is all information about the British work- man. There are no books in detail that are devoted to him, his concerns and interests being principally to be gathered from Blue Books, Reports, Transactions of Societies, and the public newspapers. From a political point of view, he has been frequently written and talked about—too much so indeed for his own good or for the good of the country, but comparatively seldom, when we come to inquire into his social con- dition, as dependent upon, or connected with, his special branch of labour. Together with the many changes in the methods of manufacture, there have been equal revolutions in the style and character of our artisans. Many new trades and processes have been introduced which were un- known thirty years ago, while, on the other hand, vi INTRODUCTION. manufactures which were then of the highest im- portance, have dwindled down, and are now in a way to become extinct. Few people are aware of the immense development of the last quarter of a century in the condition for the better of our English opera- tives, whether in a monetary, social, educational, sani- tary, or legislative light; it is very doubtful whether the bulk of the working classes themselves ever take heed of the strides that they have made, or think how little they have to lament that the “good old times” are past and gone. I have endeavoured in these two volumes to discuss this branch of our manufacturing industries, though, from my limited space, very briefly. It has been my aim to show how steadily progressive has been the legislation for the protection of life and health, and how our Factory and other working-class Acts have grown up, as the result of much experience and con- stant watchfulness on the part of successive govern- ments. I have carefully avoided the political side of the question throughout, feeling the uselessness of discussing points, about which such grave differ- ences exist. I may, however, be permitted to express an opinion, that it would be better for the English artisan himself, if he attended more to his own self-improvement, than to the constant agitation which is too often based upon, and the result of, insufficient and one-sided information. The educational phase too has been omitted, both from want of space, and because it has been made the subject of innumerable documents and reports elsewhere. INTRODUCTION. Wii As regarding the statistics of population and employés, in the main, the Census tables and the Factory Returns of 1871 and 1874 have been followed, as being the latest official statements on these matters which have appeared. I have frequently, however, been enabled to supplement them by later returns from various sources, or from private inquiries. The question of wages is always a difficult one, about which to gain accurate information. The Factory Returns contain a large amount of matter on this head, of which use has been freely made, and, where possible, statements of wages at the present time have been placed side by side. In most cases the fullest information has been afforded to me, while, in a few, my request has been declined or unanswered. Any- how, the general reader, for whom these volumes are intended, will have sufficient data to show him the ordinary earnings of our British working classes, and can therefore draw his own conclusions as to their domestic social condition. In dealing with the statistics of each trade, more figures have possibly been introduced than may be agreeable to my readers, but I have done so in the hope of showing, how intimately allied is the develop- ment of our manufactures with the state of wages and the general condition of the working classes, and of making this branch of my subject rather a text upon which to found my discourse, than as the main feature of the work. In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the very courteous and kindly assistance which has been viii INTRODUCTION. afforded to me by a great number of correspon- dents, official and otherwise, the majority of whom, although immersed in business themselves, have yet found time to procure me the knowledge which I have sought. I have freely borrowed, wherever any information was to be gained, although in all cases the source from which it was obtained has been acknowledged. Where so many facts and figures are involved, there must needs be errors or Omissions; and for any corrections or additions I shall be greatly obliged. G. PHILLIPs BEVAN. C O N T E N T S. –Cºº-me INTRODUCTION. Textiles and Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ºf CHAPTER I. Cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CHAPTER II. Flax, Linen, and Jute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 35 CHAPTER III. Woollens and Worsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 55 CEIAPTER IV. Silk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 80 CEIAPTER W. Lace and Hosiery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 CEIAPTER WI. Minor Textiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Bleaching, Dyeing, and Printing CHAPTER VIII. Clothing and Dress CEIAPTER IX. Leather, Ropes, and India-rubber CEIAPTER X. Food Industries - CHAPTER XI. Sundry Industries .. CHAPTER XII. Working-class Federation CEIAPTER XIII. Working-class Legislation INDEX IPAGE 120 131 204. 215 221 249 "Mae sºwwor.) 8u（rwqo 99“ proſuvnº praepºſ wopwoT ſuopupTaewººººoºº ºpugnavaş T ^^^（~~~~? I - （~~~~uºm«|-|? tronovro Idxqçëſ| “) NIHILOTO Y SGITIJIXTIJ,M.º ºrºnwr'ſ· ± 0 & w. W��ºſſºv ***° ººſ N ' | <\Lººae，（„ºvº) º - BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. INTRODUCTION. TEXTILES AND CLOTHING. WITH the exception of staple industries, such as coal-mining and the iron trade, we may safely say that in the textile manufactures the prosperity of Great Britain is bound up, more than any other. Whether we consider them from a numerical point of view, as regards the number of persons who are directly or indirectly engaged in them, the enormous amount of capital embarked in them, the huge financial operations of which they form the lever, the many subsidiary trades which have sprung from them, the extent of country which is dependent upon them, or the vast ramifications of international trade and com- merce which exist throughout the civilized and un- civilized world through their influence, they are worthy of the deepest regard and study, and astonish, the more they are examined. Before entering into the details of each great divi- sion of our textile manufactures, it will be well to get 2 B 2 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. as general a view as we can of the number of people directly interested in them; and to these we must add those, who are also engaged in the further application of the textiles to the various articles of dress. For this purpose I shall first of all take the Census division, which includes dress, and afterwards the purely Factory division; as, although textiles are generally identical in people's minds with factory systems and super- vision, there are a vast number of operatives who do not come under either. The Census Returns are as follows: ENGLAND. Males. Females. Total. JDyeing— - Dye-colour makers . . . . 2,551 277 2,828 Calenderers . . . . . . 11,398 1,484 12,882 Others . . . . . . . . . 2, 206 & tº 2,206 Woollens— Woolstaplers . . . . . . 1,957 - - 1,957 Felt makers . . . . . . . . 327 tº º 327 Woolfén cloth makers ... 71,683 56,781 128,464 Fullers . . . . . . . . 1,936 - * 1,936 Wool dyers . . . . . . 2,603 - - 2,603 Worsted makers ... ... 34,053 60,713 94,766 Clothiers . . . . . . . . 1,735 - * 1,735 Stuff makers . . . . . . 4,619 1,747 6,366 Flannel makers & & 4 & 782 376 1, 158 blanket makers . . . . 1,246 599 1,845 Carpet makers . . . . . . 7,877 3,691 11,568 Others . . . . . . . . 166 599 765 Silk— Silk makers . . . . . . 25,080 51, 100 75, 180 Silk dyers e - e. e º & 1,624 • * 1,624 Silk merchants e s is tº 1,396 |, .. 1,396 Ribbon makers & 9 & 5 1,435 1,658 3,093 Silk velvet makers . . . . tº & 223 223 Others . . . . . . . . 330 207 537 Carried forward .. * 179,455 354,449 | TEXTILES AND CLOTHING. Males. | Females. Total. Brought forward ... 174,994 179,455 354,449 Mæed Goods— h Weavers (not otherwise \ described) . . . . . . } 7,381 6,879 14, 260 Bleachers (ditto) . . . . 3,645 e & 3,645 Manchester warehousemen 790 & Cº. 790 Mercers, drapers . . . . 55,225 19, 112 74,337 Fancy goods . . . . . . 2,850 5,986 8,836 Trimming makers . . . . 1,358 4, 536 5,894 Factory workers - - © º 5,615 5,615 Embroiderers . . . . . . e tº 1,409 1,409 Crape makers . . . . . . g a 1, 166 1,166 Others . . . . . . . . 496 465 961 Cotton— Flax workers . . . . . . 7,364 10,629 17,993 Lace , • * * * * * 8,569 40,801 49,370 Thread makers à & e º 3,333 929 4,262 Tape 35 e & © - 602 796 I, 398 Cotton spinners ... ... 188,272 279,870 468, 142 Fustian cutters & & © tº 3, 193 , 4, 179 7,372 Cotton warehousemen .. 3,214 s & 3,214 Muslin makers tº dº e - 100 tº e 100 Calico printers e tº º º 8,804 1,056 9,860 Dyers & e º e º 'º e is 2,322 & © 2,322 Others . . . . . . . . 444 538 982 Hemp— Mat makers . . . . . . 1,345 574 I,919 Hemp , e - e is e e 463 115 578 Jute , • * * * * * 279 * & 279 Rope and cord makers ... 10,294 1,401 11,695 Canvas makers & is º e 805 260 1,065 Sacking , & 0 & - 714 1,515 2,229 Net }} e is e - tº º 260 260 Others . . . . . . . . 763 879 1,642 Dress— Hair and wig workers ... 11,885 1,240 13,125 Hatters . . . . . . . . 13,540 8,238 21,778 Straw plaiters . . . . . . 3,593 45,270 48,863 Furriers . . . . . . . . 3,704 2, 354 6,058 Tailors . . . . . . . . [111,843 38,021 149,864 Carried forward .. 632, 184 663,348 1,295,532 | B 2 4. BRITISH MAN UFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Males. Females. Total. Brought forward .. 632,184 | 668,34s 1,295,332 Milliners . . . . . . . . 1, 141 299,668 300, 809 Stay makers . . . . . . 1, 184 8,674 9,858 Hosiery workers ... ... 22,367 19,671 40,038 Hosiers . . . . . . . . 4,381 4, 147 8, 528 Glovers . . . . . . . . 1,594 15,217 16,811 Glove makers (other than - 1- - leather) . . . . . . . . ſ. 1, 135 5, 105 6, 240 Boot and shoe makers ... 197,465 25,900 223,365 Patten makers • * * * 1, 194 - - 1, 194 Button makers - tº e - 2,372 3,439 5,811 Umbrella makers . . . . 3,091 2,804 5,895 Shirt makers . . . . . . - e. 80,038 80,038 Others . . . . . . . . 2,341 1,728 1, 72S Total for England .. 866,449 1,136,435 2,002,884 | : SCOTLAND. Dyers . . . . . 2,443 800 3,243 Woollens . . . . . . . . . 18,402 23,815 42,217 Silk . . . . . . . . . . 1,276 I,270 2,546 Cotton and flax ... ... 35,114 85,636 120,750 Mixed goods . . . . . . . 19,861 e - 19,861 Hemp . . . . . . . . ; 4,753 2,842 7,595 Dress ... . . . . . . . . 47,218 54, 116 || 101,334 Total for Scotland .. 1990s, 168,479 297,546 t | IRELAND. Dyers • * ~ * 324 71 395 Woollens . . . . . . 2,852 12,846 15,698 Silk . . . . . . . . . . 465 320 785 Cotton and flax ... ... 29,259 28,059 57,318 Mixed goods . 25,543 62,190 87,733 Hemp . . . . . . . . . . 1,146 574 1,720 Dress - - 53,089 117,596 170,685 Total for Ireland ... ... 112,678 * 334,334 TEXTILES AND CLOTHING. 5 This gives a total for— England . . . . . . . . 2,002,884 Scotland e © 2 297,546 Ireland . . . . . . . . 334,334 2,634,764 And if we add to these the large numbers of people engaged in the machine trade, which is so entirely dependent on textiles, and the shipping and carrying trades, there cannot be less than 4,000,000 immediately connected with this great branch of industry. The Factory Returns of 1871, which are the latest that furnish the particulars of all the textiles and dress, give the numbers of employés on a different basis: England. Scotland. Ireland. Cotton . . . . . . . . 414,970 30,960 4, 157 Wool ... . . . . ... 100,640 23,000 1,490 Shoddy . . . . . . . . 3,816 - - & ſº Worsted . . . . . . . . . 103,514 5,968 e - Flax . . . . . . . . . 19,816 49,917 55,039 Hemp . . . . . . . . . 2,333 463 354 Jute ... . . . . . . , 1,932 14,911 727 Silk . . . . . . . . . . . 47,311 813 e & Hair ... . . . 1,883 485 21 Lace . . . . . ; 8,268 - - 102 Hosiery .. 8,995 697 & 6 Elastic & & © - G 4,623 & a tº e Calico printing ... ... 15,321 10,205 732 Other 77 ... ... 3,506 544 e - Bleaching . . . . . . . 18,378 8,736 4,313 Calendering ... . . . . . 2,341 I, 549 412 Warehousing ... ... ... 3,023 © e 2,339 Fustian cutting . . . . . 4,728 º e 401 Hand-loom weaving ... 2,581 2,126 I,077 Carried forward .. tº 150,354 71, 163 | 6 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. England. Scotland. Ireland. Brought forward ... 767,929 150,354 71,163 Hand-lace making ... 103 • * e e Fmbroidering ... 2,007 430 500 Lace dressing e e 4,305 tº º - e. Hosiery finishing .. 1,083 • * & e Boots and shoes ... ... 16,641 1,595 182 Millinery . . . . . . 9,358 1,050 676 Shirts and collars . . . . . 2,475 - - 3,557 Tailoring | 6,653 1,596 1,002 Hats & © s tº 6 tº 8,390 858 137 Gloves . . . . . . . . . 1,938 e G © e Straw hats . . . . . . 2,360 Artificial flowers . . . . 1,098 • & tº tº Others . . . . . . . . 2, 147 264 349 Total ... ... ... 826,287 156,167 77,569 Giving a grand total of 1,060,023. This, it must be remembered, takes no account of the vast mass of domestic industry, but simply of associated or factory work. The Factory Returns of 1874 show an increase in the number of textile workers, viz.: hil Mal F l º, jº, Above is º England ... ... 113,567 | 66,499 || 205,957 397,098 Scotland . . . . 8,394 | 11,149 29,508 || 105,668 Ireland . . . . . . 3,721 6,819 12,995 || 44,104 Total ... ... 125,682 84,467 248,460 546,870 or a gross total of 1,005,479. Having stated these preliminary numbers, further statistics will be found under the head of each branch of textiles. 7 ) CHAPTER I. COTTON. As the most important of all our textiles, from what- ever light we view it, I proceed to describe cotton first, commencing, as usual, with the numerical side of the question. In 1871 there were of cotton operatives as follows: º Above 20. *::: Above 20. England 69,996 || 118,276 118,602 | 161,268 Scotland & ſº tº ſº © tº dº tº Ireland 264 799 501 801 The respective ages of the English workers were: 20– 25– 5– 10– 15– Males .. 2,589 || 31, 134 || 36,273 || 23,817 | 35,458 Females 2, 182 43,150 | 73,270 53,955 59,529 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 Males .. 25,654 18,208 || 9,780 4,232 | 1,127 Females 28,291 12,923 || 4,357 | 1,655 55S 8 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. by which it is plain that, except at the very earliest and towards the latest portion of life, the majority of the artizans are females. The Factory Returns give a summary of the number of mills in the United Kingdom, viz. classifying them as factories (a) for spinning, (b) for weaving, (c) spin- ning and weaving together, (d) sundry : No. Of dº s: of Diff #. Of - arding liſh ing OWer Factories. Machines. n § §§ i. England 2,371 62,709 32,631,631 3,491,827 411,336 Scotland 98 2,985 1,256,686 231, 185 25,903 Ireland 14 266 124,904 1,025 || 3,437 employing: Child Mal Femal ... up ...is. Above 18. ...” Total. - England 42,648 36,735 112,129 223,458 414,970 Scotland 516 | 1,004 3,996 || 25,444 || 30,960 Ireland 117 470 921 2,649 4,157 A very interesting report was made by Mr. Red- grave * of the comparative numbers of factories and workers at different dates, which will show how rapid is the increase of the latter : No. of factories . . . . spinning spindle power looms .. 33 37 1851. 1861. 1871. 1875. e e 1,932 2,877 2,483 2,655 . (20,977,017 |30,387,467 |34,695,221 |37,515,772 249,627 | 399,992 || 440,676 || 463, 118 * Factory Reports, 1875. COTTON. - 9 To show how much more relatively productive fac- tories are now than they formerly were, the proportion of spindles was 10,857 in 1850 to 14,130 in 1875; and of power-looms, 129 in 1850 to 174 in 1875. This proves that the factories in the last quarter of a century have been augmented in size, and that there has been a tendency to concentrate machinery in one mill, and also that machinery has become more and more self-acting and requires less manual labour. This is borne out by the statistics of the power-loom Weavers, who were— In 1861 ... . . . . . . 166,209 ,, 1871 . . . . . . . . 165,341 ,, 1875 . . . . . . ... 163,632 Or, in other words, that the proportion of looms to weavers was 13 in 1861 to 2% in 1875. But while this section of workers has declined in numbers for the reasons above mentioned, there has been a vast increase in other branches, viz.: 1850. 1861. 1871. 1875. Children up to 13 ... 14,993 39,788 43,181 | 66,900 Males 13 to 18 . . . . . 37,059 || 41,207 || 38,209 || 38,557 , above 18 . . . . 94,960 119,268 |117,046 115,391 Females above 13 ... 183,912 ſº º 258,667 Here we see, that while the development of self- acting machinery has diminished the employment of the more expensive kinds of labour (males above 18), it has increased that of the cheaper labour, such as 10 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. females and children. The proportion of the different classes is thus: | 1850 1875 Children . . . 6-4 14. Males 13 to 18 10 : 3 S. , above 18 27.4 24 • Females 55 ° 9 54." At present (1876), we have about 39,000,000 spin- dles, while all the rest of Europe has only some 19,500,000, and the United States about 9,600,000. Before I come to the details of factory workers, I cannot do better than transcribe the following most excellent historical résumé of the system, as given by Mr. Redgrave in his Report for 1875, which expresses in a short space all the main features of the work as regards the workers: “The textile manufactures of this country have gone through three phases, each unlike the other; and in considering the physical condition of factory operatives at the present' day, it is essential not to take that condition by itself, but to compare the present state of things with the two dis- tinct anterior periods. For many years the textile industry was carried on in the rural districts only. The power used was water. Water on the hill-sides was irregular in its flow ; work was therefore irre- gular. When the stream was full, work was brisk (we should have called it excessive); when it was dry the factory hands were employed on the lands, in hay- making, or other like occupations. Thus the operatives COTTON. 11 were both farm labourers as well as factory workers, and as manufacturing was not the complicated affair that it is now, they were free from many of the evils which afterwards arose from the introduction of steam, and the immense enterprise and energy of our manu- facturers. In some places this patriarchal system existed even in comparatively recent times. . ſº After this system came that of manufacture, pure and simple, the erection of large steam factories, the bring- ing together, without previously providing adequate and proper means for healthy and decent accommo- dation, hundreds of families to fill these buildings; and then followed immediately the proneness to run the costly machinery, regardless of the waste of human life, health, and happiness, for any number of hours daily that seemed good to the capitalist. It was during this period, that the factory hand became changed from the healthy labourer to the weakly, anaemic, and frequently decrepit operative. Doubt- less, from the cost of the introduction of steam and the desire to run the machinery as long as possible, the factory hands did degenerate from the sturdy labourer and operative in the valleys and on the hill-sides of Lancashire and Yorkshire, to the wasted and down- trodden operative of the purely manufacturing town, working daily and all day long, and possibly part of the night also, in a close, hot, ill-ventilated factory, returning from work to a dwelling more unhealthy than the factory, until the factory population ap- peared to have become a distinct race, that was known at a glance, so defined were the effects of 12 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. over-work and unhealthy dwellings upon the physical appearance and condition of the people. The harvest of ills from this state of things, the continued effect of Over-work in hot, ill-ventilated factories, and residence in unhealthy houses, reached its climax in 1833, when the first real Factory Act was passed; and for nearly thirty years since, the hours of work have been mode- rate, factories better ventilated and more healthy, work lighter, towns and dwellings becoming year by year better ordered.” This little historical condensation will prepare us for a clearer understanding of the details of the factory work, as regards its influence upon the health of the workers. Mr. Isaac Watts, the secretary to the late Cotton Supply Association, has given us a com- pendious and yet elaborate account of the various processes in his interesting article on Cotton; * and I need, therefore, only refer in detail to each process, with respect to the different branches of workpeople employed, and to the raw material itself, in as far as it occasionally materially affects the conditions of labour. Where possible, too, I shall compare the present work- ing conditions with those of the time that is past and gone. Cotton operatives are divided into three great classes of workers: (a) preparers of the material for spinning, all except the “ginning,” which is done in the country where the cotton is grown; (b) spinners; (c) Weavers. The preparatory processes are: (1) mixing the various sorts together so as to feed (2) the “opening” or * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ COTTON. 13 willowing machine, which breaks up hard lumps and removes the dirt from the cotton. This operation is almost always attended to by men, and was formerly accompanied by volumes of dust; this has, however, been obviated by powerful fans, and is no longer a cause of complaint. Next comes (3) the “scutcher,” by which the fleecy cotton, as left by the opener, is formed into a roll, fit for (4) the “carding ” process, by which the fibres are formed into a soft, elongated mass, called a “sliver.” Amongst spinners of fine qualities (5) combing machines are next used, but not invariably in ordinary mills; the next process after carding being (6) “drawing,” in which the slivers are laid together, so as to have their length in- creased, and the fibres strengthened and laid parallel ; (7) “slubbing,” in which the sliver has a certain amount of twist given it, so as to secure its coherence, and is then wound on a bobbin; and (8) “roving,” in which the necessary elongation of the fibre is com- pleted. In some of the smaller mills, the carding, drawing, slubbing, and roving, are all carried on in one large room ; but in more extensive factories the machines are placed in distinct rooms. In carding, the employés consist of lap-carriers, strippers, grinders, and doffer-can minders. The lap-carriers are usually boys up to sixteen or eighteen, whose work is to carry the rolls of willowed or opened cotton from the blow- ing machine, and place them on the carding engine; though in some cases these are now superseded by machinery, in the shape of a pair of feed rollers, which convey the laps from one engine to the other. 14 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. The great evil of the carding-room was, until lately (and, indeed, even now in small mills), the enormous quantity of dust that was given off, and the oppressive- ness of the atmosphere. This dust is light and fibrous, “consisting mainly of minute fibres, varying in length from a line to a very small fraction of it. In the mills where the cotton used is of a very low quality, there is, in addition to this fine dust, much ‘flying,’ ‘fluff, or ‘flue, consisting of longer fibres. In the finer spinning mills, where the staple used is long, the air on a first inspection might seem tolerably clear. But the first sunbeam revealed the dense and universal dissemina- tion of dusty particles, and the clothes and hair of the workpeople were in a state that showed how rapid was their accumulation. A rough test of this was to clean a smooth metal surface, and note the time within which sufficient dust had collected to make distinct marks upon it. Five minutes was frequently sufficient for this purpose.” This dust was much aggravated during the operations of grinding and “stripping,” which are necessary, when the metal teeth by which the cotton is carded become clogged with fibres and blunted. This process was performed by men, and consisted in reversing the action of the rollers, so that the fibres were brought to the surface and removed. As there were often a number of carding machines in one room, and the process of stripping had to be gone through from three to five times a day, it may be easily imagined what a volume of dust was given off * Report by Dr. Bridges and Mr. Holmes on Textile Fac- tories, 1873. COTTON. 15 during the twelve hours. The operatives who had to carry it out showed the effects of this dust in their pale, emaciated faces, and in the bronchial irritation from which they constantly suffered, causing cough, anaemia, debility, diarrhoea, and other formidable symptoms of pulmonary mischief, including expecto- ration, in which the cotton fibre was plainly visible by the microscope. In most large mills at the pre- sent day the carding engines are covered over, and are made self-stripping, so that much of this mis- chief is obviated. The atmosphere of the room is hot and close, varying from 70° to 80°, which tends to the unhealthiness of the inmates. The drawing-frame and slubbing-frame minders, together with the can-minders, are composed of women and children. As explained above, drawing is a further elongation and straightening of the fibre, and the machine is worked at a high speed. The slivers from the carding engine are run together into a single one, and drawn out by rollers to six times the original length. The pouring forth of the single sliver into the can is called the “delivery,” and usually after this, the process of drawing is re- peated, the sliver being broken off when the can is full, and taken to be drawn a second time, or “doubled.” Generally it has to be done also a third time, so that the cotton in the sliver will have been lengthened some 216 times, after which the cans are taken to the slubbing frames. The work of the women, therefore, is to be constantly shifting the cans from one delivery to the other. There are generally three drawing 16 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. boxes to each drawing frame, each box having four deliveries, so that the cans, when filled, have to be taken at once from the delivery side of one box to the feeding side of the other. Each can weighs when full from 16 to 18 lbs., and as one woman will move upwards of 900 cans per day, the work is unremitting, although not exceedingly heavy at any one time. There is one point that is in favour of the “minders,” viz., that the machine stops of itself, should a sliver get broken in the drawing. In the slubbing and roving process, much the same work is done, though perhaps a little more skill is required, in piecing the broken ends and replacing the empty bobbins by full ones. (b) Spinners form the second great class of cotton factory hands. I may briefly state that the spinning process is of two kinds, differing in detail, though the same in principle. The throstle is the simpler of these machines, and consists of a row of spindles with “flyers” screwed on their top and fitted with bobbins, so that the spindle and flyer, revolving with great rapidity, twist the thread delivered by the rollers and lap it on to the bobbins. The latter are carried round with the spindles, but do not revolve at such a high speed. Throstle yarn has a closer twisted fibre than mule yarn, is stronger and more even, and is more used for certain purposes, such as making sewing thread. In the mule machine, the spindles are placed on a carriage, which moves backwards and forwards from the rollers, the spindles at the same time re- volving rapidly and converting the stretched roving COTTON. 17 into yarn. “The twist is put in as the carriage recedes or is drawn out, and the winding of the yarn upon the cop is performed by a separate motion as the mule or carriage moves up, the principle of drawing being the same in both throstle and mule.”— Watts. The principal changes in mule-spinning in the last forty years have been, the making them self-acting instead of, as formerly, worked by hand, and the great increase in the number of spindles, which, in the time of Crompton, the inventor, in 1786, averaged 30; in 1800, 200; in 1833, about 350; in 1873, from 700 to 750. The operatives in mule-spinning consist of the spinners or minders, who direct the operations of the mule generally, and a certain number of boys called “piecers,” whose part it is to piece the broken threads. Each spinner, with his piecers, attends to two mules, standing in the passage between them, and during the “draws,” or “stitches,” of the mule car- riage, watching the threads, which are constantly getting broken. Messrs. Bridges and Holmes give a calculation, in their Report, of the average number of spindles and workers in 1873. In proportion to 26 mules, the average was— Spindles . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,516 Spinners . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Piecers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Scavengers, creelers or bobbiners .. I2 making 88 hands, with 517 spindles to each hand. The latter class of operatives are half-timers, who do any odd work. The result of their observations was, that C 18 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. the number of spindles to each hand had progressively and rapidly increased, as had also the rapidity of the “draws” or “stretches” per minute of the mule carriage. Whereas in the spinning of medium or coarse counts forty years ago, the mule stretches were from 1700 to 1800 per day of twelve hours, they now average 2161 per day of ten and a half hours, so that considerably more attention and movement is required on the part of the piecers. When the yarn that is spun is fine, it is all the better for the piecers, for the motion is less and the thread less apt to break. In throstle spinning, girls (young persons) are employed to attend to the spindles, while children, called “doffers,” remove the bobbins when full, and replace them by empty ones. Each woman superintends from 600 to 700 spindles, and there is no great hardship in the work beyond the constant attention required. The greatest evils are the high temperature of the spinning room and the bad ventilation, there being usually an objection to open the windows, partly from the aversion of the operatives to anything like cold, and partly lest the fine stretched- out yarn should be blown about or be stained by “blacks.” In respect of temperature, the “reeling” room is better off, while the work is tolerably light, the women and girls standing to the reels, which are turned by machinery. Where doubling is carried on for making cotton thread, the atmosphere is pleasant enough, as it contains more moisture, from the water-troughs through which the threads are passed. “Warping” is similar in the conditions of labour to reeling. It is the first OOTTON. 19 process of the weaving department, and is usually done by women, who, after the cops of twist are wound upon the bobbins, take the latter and run from 400 to 600 threads together upon the beam. They have this advantage, however, over the reelers, that they can sit down to their work, while the latter must stand. When the beams are ready, they are taken to the sizing room and there prepared for the weaver, the object of sizing being to give tenacity to the warp and lessen friction, while it is being woven. Next in importance to the spinning is the weaving department, in which a great number of women find employment; and I have already alluded (p. 8) to the vast numerical increase of the power looms in pro- portion to the number of weavers, within the last quarter of a century; showing that between 1871 and 1875, the former had risen from 399,992 to 463,118, while the latter had decreased from 166,209 to 163,632. This conclusively proves the advances made in the self-acting character of the machinery, and the many improvements which must have taken place since the early days of weaving, when each loom required the services of one weaver, whereas now three, and sometimes four, looms are superintended by a single weaver, though not so many in Scotland and Ireland. The principal of these improvements have been, the adoption of the “weft-fork,” by which the loom is thrown out of gear, and stops, the moment that the weft breaks; self-acting “templets,” by which the cloth is kept constantly stretched; and increased speed in the loom itself. In the early days of weaving, the “picks” c 2 20 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. or throws of the shuttle varied from 90 to 112, whereas now they are between 170 and 200. The principal difficulties in weaving arise from the brittle- ness of the yarn, particularly when it is over-sized, causing breakage in the threads, which, were not the loom stopped at once, would produce irreparable en- tanglement and confusion. When it happens (and this depends very much on the character of the yarn), the loom must be thrown out of gear, the broken threads re-tied, and passed through the healds and reeds, ne- cessitating a check in the work of several minutes. Weaving is carried on in sheds, some of which are very dusty, owing to causes which I shall describe, while some are rather damp, from the use of steam jets. Otherwise the operation of weaving, though sedentary and monotonous, is not unhealthy, though it is doubtful whether the effort to superintend too many looms at a time is not too great a strain upon the nervous system of the vision, especially of a woman. There is a ten- dency to encourage competition in the amount of work which can be thus undertaken, arising partly from the system of giving the overlooker a bonus upon the earnings of the weavers, and partly that “the ad- miration of their companions and the approbation of the overlooker, appear to be at least as powerful inducements as the increase of their wages. A woman who can mind four looms, without an assistant, has attained a certain position, and is an object of atten- tion. ‘Hoo's a four-loomer; hoo’s like to be wed,’ will be commonly remarked of such an one.” “ * Report of Messrs. Dridges and Holmes, 1873. COTTON. 21 The dustiness of the weaving sheds, especially in some mills in certain localities, such as Todmorden, brings us to an evil which has been the subject of much inquiry, and of a special Report made by Dr. Buchanan, in 1871. It will be seen that adulteration is a vice which is not limited to our comestibles. The cotton warp requires to be sized, as I have already stated, to give it tenacity, and this is done by passing it through some semi-glutinous paste, which was usually composed of flour and tallow, to the amount of about twenty per cent. of the weight of the warp. At the time of the Crimean war, however, tallow became scarce and dear, and some ingenious manufacturers found out that china clay would be as good and as cheap a substitute, it having been previously observed that it improved the colour of the warp, making it less brown. So far, there was not much to complain of, until the American war broke out, and cotton of good kinds became very dear and difficult to obtain; the china clay thereupon came still more into vogue, as it was discovered that it would give the requisite tenacity of twist to low priced and inferior cottons of short fibre; indeed without it, it was very difficult to weave these cottons. The con- venience of the material, however, was the means of introduction of much dishonesty into the trade, al- though, of course, not amongst the high-class manu- facturers ; for “weight for length had been, as it still is, the chief test of the goodness of any description of yard-wide cloth; and with the scarcity of raw material came the practice of giving a fictitious weight to cloths containing less cotton, in order to make it 22 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. appear that they contained more. It became a matter of rivalry with sizers, which of them, on the order of manufacturers anxious to meet the demands of mer- chants, could put on most foreign matter upon the cotton warps. From this practice of ‘heavy sizing,' the more respectable houses long kept aloof, but they did so at the expense of their immediate trade ; and thus every yard of cotton cloth made at Todmor- den and many other places has been weighted with quantities of size not required for any manufacturing purposes, but used as an adulteration.” ” But this was not the only evil, for the sizing was composed not only of china clay, but of various other substances still more hurtful, such as alum, baryta, or arsenic, de- pending upon some particular prescription of the sizer. Whatever was the mixture with the china clay, it came off during the process of weaving to a very large extent, and filled the weaving sheds with a most un- pleasant opaque dust, covering the Weavers' faces, and causing much irritation to the mucous membrane of the nose and throat, besides producing great ulterior pulmonary mischief. Where the dust was not so great, it was kept down by having the weaving sheds damp, so that the sizing compound would not break up so much, while the cloth would be also heavier by so much moisture; and this naturally caused great discomfort in the weaving sheds. The extraordinary length to which this evil was carried is shown by statements from a maker, that in a piece of cloth weighing 4; 1bs., the * Report of Dr. Buchanan, 1872, on “Certain Sizing Pro- cesses in the Cotton Trade.” COTTON. 23 unsized warp would weigh 2 lbs. 2 ozs. ; the weft 1 lb. 4 ozs., the size 1 lb. 2 ozs. ; while another stated, that in a piece of cloth weighing 19 lbs. there would be from 5 lbs. to 6 lbs. of size. The effects of the size dust upon the weavers in mills where this was carried on very much resembled those to which potters are liable, I have thus briefly endeavoured to show what are the divisions of labour in a cotton-mill, and the circumstances under which it is carried on. The hours of labour are from 6 A.M. to 5.30 P.M., deducting half an hour (8 to 8.30) for breakfast and an hour for dinner (12.30 to 1.30), while on Saturdays the mill closes at 1 P.M. This gives a total of 56, hours a week. These arrangements are the result of the Act of 1874, and as regards meal-times are looked upon as not being the best that could be desired; for those, who are most capable of judging, consider that it would have been better to let the extra half hour be given for breakfast, the present time being too short to allow the Operatives to go home and have their meal in comfort, instead of which it is taken, badly cooked and hurriedly, in the mill. Not only is this unwholesome, but it offers opportunity for breaking the regulations, by sweeping up or cleaning the machinery during these hours. The attention of the Legislature has been prin- cipally given to the protected classes who work in cotton-mills, viz. Women and children. In England the numbers of married women who are factory hands are very considerable, whereas in Scotland it 24 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. is considered as rather beneath the dignity of the married woman to work in a mill, except when pressed for money. There is no doubt as to the evils of such a system, for many a clever factory hand is married to a drunken, profligate husband, simply that she may earn more money for his pleasures, while the mortality of the children is largely increased by the mothers going to the factory and leaving the children to be nursed at home, or by a “baby minder,” who, for a small daily sum, takes in the little unfortunate and doses it with opiates. Should it escape this fate, another alternative is presented to us by Mr. Leach, a certifying surgeon, near Oldham : “As things now stand, a mother leaves her infant (say of two months old) at 6 A.M., often asleep in bed; at 8 she nurses it, after which the child is stuffed with some indigestible food. On her return at noon, over- heated and exhausted, her milk is unfit for the child’s nourishment, and this state of things is again repeated until 6 P.M.; the consequence being that the child suffers from spasmodic diarrhoea, often complicated with con- vulsions, and ending in death.”” Mr. Baker, H.M. Inspector of Factories, gives an interesting return, in his Report for 1873, of the number of married women engaged in our different textile manufactories. In cotton there were 1127, of whom the majority were between twenty and thirty years of age; also 161 widows, and 96 deserted. The percentage of the married to those employed was 26 5. This brings us to a question which has for some * Factory Reports, 1872. COTTON. 25 * time attracted the attention of those engaged in ad- ministering the factory laws, viz. the degeneracy or deterioration of the factory population. A series of questions addressed in 1875 to the various certifying surgeons has proved this fact beyond doubt. Mr. Fer- guson, of Bolton, attributes the change for the worse to the intemperate habits of the people, the innutritious food, and the excessive use of tobacco by the very young. Mr. Leach, of Heywood, writes thus: “The physical strength suffers much in factories from con- fined heated atmosphere, loaded with fine cotton fibres, flinty sand, and cutaneous exhalations; the number of gas-lights, each light destroying oxygen equal to one man; transitions from the mills and the irregular tem- perature to their own dwellings; diet and drinks adapted to a heated employment, and stimulants to soothe an excited nervous tension; vision always on the move ; perception and volition, from the nature of their work, always in action. But, unfortunately, drink stimu- lants and mental excitement are resorted to, and want, improvidence, poor houses, and bad food tell against healthy offspring. No doubt factory physique is not good, but it is made worse by factory associates of vice and iniquity.” “ This is not a very en- couraging picture, after all our efforts to promote the Sanitary and moral improvement of the operative, for, that enormous improvements have been made since the early days of cotton-spinning, there can be no two opinions. Not only, as we have seen, has machinery been brought to the utmost pitch of self-action, so * Factory Reports, 1875. 26 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. as to save labour, but the mills generally have been almost recast in their arrangements, while, compared with the old mills, many of the present ones are palaces. Mr. Baker gives the measurement * of the cubic area of breathing space for each person in an old mill at 2633 cubic feet, while in one of the newer ones it was 6696. Taking the question of hours of labour, I quote from a Blue Book of 1816, the evidence of Mr. Henry Houldsworth as to the cotton spinners of Manchester: “Sixteen and seventeen hours were very common to be worked for two or three of the last days of the week; ” and in answer to the question, “Do you apprehend that children ever worked fifteen or sixteen hours a day?” he stated, “They must have done so, when the men did it.” In his Report for 1873, Mr. Baker mentions that, when he first knew the factory districts, in 1830, the factory cripples of Lancashire and Yorkshire were a remarkable sight ; it being a common expression, that they seemed as numerous, in proportion to the population of the industrial towns of these counties, as sailors were in Liverpool to its general population. I should be inclined to imagine that, when we consider all that has been done for the factory operative, and particularly the great reduction of the working hours, we must seek the causes for deterioration in other than the mere factory Sur- roundings. As regards the mortality of this class of operatives, the Registrar-General remarks that “the wool, silk, * Factory Reports, 1875. COTTON. 27 and cotton manufacturing population no longer ex- perience an exceptionally high mortality, and it is creditable to the mill-owners to find the men and boys in their employ suffering less than many other people in towns. The people working in wool are the healthiest ; at all the young ages, the mortality is the lowest ; at forty-five and upwards, the cotton workers suffer much more than the workers in wool and silk.” The table of mortality for males only in England for 1871 is— 55— 65— | 75 *-*. 2471 || 7 | 40 172 207 || 339 ** 422,384 269 45– Total. 5– | 10- 15— | 20– 25— 35– As compared with the mortality per cent. of other textiles, cotton stands as follows; though as flax, the spinning of which is a more unhealthy occupation, is associated with it, it is not altogether a good criterion. f | 15— 20– || 25— | 35— 45— 55– 65- 75 |- Wool and worsted '504-879): 854|1-0321. 6873.2587.64820-872 Silk . . . . . . . .710 '890 - 8781. 1031'5072-7336-340 15, 178 Cotton and flax ... 547 '924|'9541-2101-9784-2339:47S 25. 417 All classes .. 632, -859|'9851-3051 | º sº - º º sº 584 I will only touch very briefly upon the legislation of cotton mills, as my reader will find a chapter devoted to this subject at the end of this volume. Since the Factory Health and Morals Act of 1802 (42 Geo. III. 28 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. c. 73) upwards of twenty-seven specific Factory Acts have been passed, including the textile, print, and bleaching works. The latest of these Acts, viz. that of 1874, is the only one to which I need now allude. It provided that the period of work should be between 6 A.M. and 6 P.M., or 7 A.M. and 7 P.M.; that no one should be employed continuously for more than four and a half hours without an interval of half-an-hour for a meal, and that two hours should be allowed for meals each day, except Saturday. Children might be employed in morning or afternoon sets, or on alternate days for the whole day. After June 1, 1876, the age of a “child” (full timer) was raised from thirteen to fourteen (unless an educational certificate was obtained), and of half-timers from eight to ten. This last regula- tion is not regarded favourably by employers, as tend- ing to cause a scarcity of juvenile labour in textiles, as compared with the abundant supply in other works. The changes for the better in wages are on a piece with the improvements in other respects, as this little table will show: 1839. 1873. Per Week of Per Week Of 69 hours. 60 hours. “Stretchers” (women and girls) # § 1% % earned . . . . . . . . . . ) Piecers (women and lads). . . . . . S 0 16 0 Throstle reelers (women) .. 9 0 12 6 Doublers (Women) 7 0 I2 6 Sizers .. tº tº 23 0 30 0 The following list is one of the average weekly wages of cotton operatives: COTTON. 29 1871 1876 S. d. S. d. s. d. S. d. Willowers 12 0 12 0 Devillers § { } I2 0 15 0 Cotton-opener minders 12 0 15 () Blowing-room hands(women) 12 0 22 25 (men) 18 0 19 0 to 20 0 Strippers and grinders' *} 18 0 to 21 0 19 0 , 24 O in card-room .. 35 Carders (men) ... .. 28 0 , 35 0 28 0 , 35 0 Sweepers (half-timers) 4 0 4 0 , 5 0 Under carders & 20 0 , 21 0 1 24 0 , 26 0 Lap carriers (boys) . . . . . .8 0 , 10 0 12 0 , 16 0 Draw-frame tenters (women) ; 12 6 , 13 6 17 6 Intermediate ditto 16 0 , 20 0 || 14 0 , 18 0 Slubbers (women) 13 0 , 16 6 17 3 , 20 0 Rovers (women) ... ... 13 0 ,, 18 0 | 16 0 , 20 0 Back-tenters to rowers (girls) 7 0 , 9 6 9 0 , 10 0 32 slubbers ... 7 0 Oilers and greasers .. 1S O 24 0 Mule-room overlookers 30 0 , 32 0 35 0 , 40 0 Self-acting mule minders... 24 0 , 30 0 || 29 0 , 35 0 Self-acting mule piecers]. (young men) .. } 10 0 , 16 0 | 11 0 , 16 0 Creelers . . . . . . 6 6 , 7 0 || 7 6 Throstle-room overlookers 26 0 30 0 , 35 0 Throstle-spinners (women) | 11 6 . 12 0 | 12 0 , 14 0 ,, doffers (lads) .. 6 6, 9 0 || 9 0 , II 0 35 , (half-timers), 3 0 3 0 23 ,, and winders | 12 0 , 15 0 - 33 ,, and doublers 12 0 12 0 , 15 0 Beamers * * * 22 0 , 27 6 15 0 , 20 0 Warpers (men) .. 30 0 30 0 , 35 0 Engineers . . . . . . . 22 0 , 28 0 || 30 0 , 35 0 Loom-tenters (girls and boys) 5 0 Warp sizers . . . . . . . 26 0 , 36 0 | 40 0 , 50 0 Drawers-in of warp (men) 24 0 24 0 33 22 (women) 15 0 Reachers & © & e 5 0 Reelers (women) ... ... 15 0 12 0 , 15 0 35 , (girls and boys) 4 * is e º 10 0 Weavers (four looms) 18 0 , 22 0 { 4 0 , 6 0 per loom 33 (two looms).. 11 0 , 14 0 30 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. It must be remembered that in different localities somewhat different rates of wages prevail, the opera- tives at Oldham and Manchester earning a trifle more than those at Preston; but the scale really depends on the numbers that are spun, the class of cotton used, the condition of the machinery, &c. The average weekly earnings in a spinning factory at Manchester (1876) are: Spinning Department. | Doubling Department. . 13s.6d. Scutching tenters Cop winders I0s. 6d. Strippers 228. Clear , 12s. Grinders 23s. Warp , 12s. Card tenters 11s. Doublers gº IIs. Overlookers 30s. 55 (doffers) 3s. Draw-frame tenters ... 14s. 3d. 33 (bobbin carriers) 3s. Roving , ,, ... 15s. 6d. Reelers & & 12s. Jack , 23 e - 13s. Makers up 27s. Spinners . . 28s. 1d. Warpers gº tº 45s. }} (piecers) 13s.6d. Roller coverers.. 12s. 6d. 25 (creelers) .. 13s.6d. Overlookers g 38s. I shall deal as briefly as possible with the commercial statistics of the cotton trade, for they are so voluminous that they might be made to fill a volume. The imports of raw cotton for the last decade were: Year. Quantities. Walue. cwtS. f 1S65 8,736,625 66,041,400 IS66 12,299,233 77, 530, 118 1867 11,275,767 52,003,230 1868 11,863,943 55, 194,157 I869 10,906,886 56,846,690 1870 11,958, 635 53,477,755 IS71 15,876,248 55,907,070 IS72 12,578,906 53,380,670 1873 13,639,252 54,704,847 1874. 13,989,861 50,696,496 1875 13,324,564 46,259,822 COTTON. 31 The table of particulars for 1875 will show the countries which furnished these supplies: RAW COTTON. cwts. cwts. Sweden 5,975 Chili 3,798 Germany 14,567 Brazil .. 641,603 France 14,455 ; Gibraltar 6,287 Spain 37,440 || West Africa 12,381 Turkey tº tº 8,196 Bombay ... 2,753,535 Egypt .. ... 1,463,503 Madras . 503,886 China. .. a º 5,210 Bengal .. 156,125 America ... 7,511,906 Ceylon .. 30,075 Hayti e 10,620 Australia. 17,224 New Granada, 35,534 West Indies ſº 5,104 Peru 66,396 || Other Countries .. 20,744 YARN. lbs. lbs. Germany ... 1,224,130 Belgium 214,778 Holland 451,223 France .. 143,332 WASTE. Belgium 243,616 | France .. 823,29S Of cotton manufactures (piece goods) we imported in the same year: From- Pieces. Value. f China. . . tº e º e 2,272 1,080 India. . . . . . . . . 52,419 26, 135 Other Countries 3,892 1,428 MUSLINs. France . . . . . . 3,864 7,243 OTHER RINDS. Germany 8,323 2, 193 |Holland 38,861 9,715 Belgium 25,764 17,953 France 418,386 136,849 America 73,252 58,502 32 PRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. The exports, for the decade, of piece goods, consisting of white or plain, printed, checked, dyed, or mixed, Wel’é : Year. Quantities. Value. yards f 1865 2,014,303,716 46,923,384 1S66 2, 575,698, 138 60,927,419 1867 2,832,023,707 55,965,366 1S6S 2,977, 106,551 52,971,873 1869 2,868,630, 125 53,021,505 IS70 3,266,998,366 56,745,210 1871 3,417,405,811 57,760,207 I872 3,537,985,311 63,466,729 IS73 3,483,735,585 61,468,172 IS74. 3,606,639,044 59,730,200 IS75 3,562,462,166 58, 598,853 and of cotton yarn : Year. Quantities. Value. lbs. fº IS65 102,533,609 10,342,737 1866 138,804,538 13,685,627 IS67 169,096,708 14,871,617 1S6S 174,262,196 14,714,899 1869 168,841,075 14,095,449 1870 186,078,060 14,671, 135 1871 193,695,156 15,061,204 IS72 212,327,972 I6,697,426 1873 214,778,827 15,895,440 1874. 220,682,919 14,517,425 IS75 215,609,580 13,172,860 The table of particulars of exports for 1875 is far too long to be reproduced here, and I will only give a brief abstract of it, as to who are our largest customers, viz. – COTTON. 33 COTTON YARN AND TWIST. lbs. Germany ... . . . . . . . . 40,137,917 EIolland ... . . . . . . . . 36,008,420 Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,965,052 Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,534,870 Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,810,256 Madras . . . . . . . . . . ... 10,205,710 Bengal . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,320,600 Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . 13,504,400 PIECE GOODS. Plain. yards. Bengal . . . . . . . . . . . . 677,719,910 Bombay . . . . . . . . . . 256,662,000 China. . . . . . . . . . . . . 240,495,300 Turkey ... . . . . . . . . . . 140,854,000 Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . 133,813,700 Printed. - Turkey . . . . . . . . . . ... 103,428,100 Bengal . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,095,300 Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . 98,166,200 Bombay ... . . . . . . .. 53,628,500 West Indies . . . . . . . . . . 49,002,200 Mia!ed, but Cotton predominating. Australia . . . . . . . . . . 2,202,370 North America (British) ... ... 1,170,260 Belgium . . . . . . . . . . 1,586,480 Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,206,860 There is scarcely a nook or corner of the world where our cotton prints and plain goods do not find their way, and they may be said to be almost the first pioneers of civilization. But, if we are to keep up our superiority over the world in this respect, we must not drift into the adulteration of our yarns, with fictitious D 34 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. sizes and wax, for our customers in tropical countries are already calling attention in an unpleasant manner to the fact that Manchester goods are not as they used to be, and have not the same abiding qualities. The “North China. Herald’ of November 13, 1873, de- nounced this adulteration in very strong language. We must remember, too, that we have a formidable and rapidly increasing rival in the cotton-spinning trade of India. The first steam cotton factory was established at Kurla in 1863; and there were in the Bombay Presidency in 1874, 40 mills; in Calcutta, 4; in the North-West Provinces, 2 ; in Nagpore, 1: total, 47. At the present time not less than a million spindles and 10,000 persons are at work throughout India. CHAPTER II. FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. THE flax and linen trade gives occupation, according to the Census tables, to— England Scotland Ireland .. Total .. Males. Females. Total. 7,364 10,629 17,993 15,145 26,863 42,008 27,167 22,674 49,841 49,676 60,166 109,842 by which it appears that Ireland carries off the lion's share in point of numbers. land of the workers were— The average ages in Eng- | - 10— 15— | 20- || 25– s:- - 55– * 75 | | y Males ... 38 780 850, 715.1280.1118 1042, 844 ºns rºle ... whº sº ion ºf | t | In Scotland— 5- 10– 15— 20– 25— 35— 45— 55— 65— 75 Males ... 16 ºws: 21992.1912335||1768.1067 303 Females . . . 26 wº ** as ºn - i D 2 36 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. In Ireland— 55— 65— 75 5– 10- 15— 20– 25– 35– 45– : — | Males . . 72 lsº asººdºsiºiosauss 456 Females .. 66 * 964 964 660 299 | - - – I These tables show that a large majority, occupied in flax and linen, are young persons and children. To these numbers might be added, with justice, a con- siderable body of agricultural labourers in the North of Ireland who are engaged in cultivating the flax Crop. The flax manufacture is, like most of the other tex- tiles, very much localized, Belfast and Leeds being the two chief centres of the trade, although there is also a good deal of flax-spinning in the counties of Cumberland and Dorset (Bridport), and, in Scot- land, in those of Fife and Forfar. The Factory Returns of 1871 give the following list, classifying them as (a) spinning, (b) weaving, (c) spinning and weaving:— - No. of No. Of No. of No. Of Carding Spinning Doubling Power Machines. Spindles. Spindles. | Looms. No. Of Factories. England . . . 155 560 369,768 32,520 | 3,048 Scotland ... 191 633 317,085 | 13,514 || 17,419 Ireland ... 154 496 866,482 20,178 14,834 -sº- - Total .. 500 1,689 | 1,553,335 | 66,212 35,301 FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 37 employing— Childr Mal F les - § u. Above 18. ..., | Total. England ... 1,390 1,744 4,796 || 11,886 19,816 Scotland ... 1,970 4,235 | 8,632 35,080 || 49,917 Ireland ... 1,601 || 5,560 11,307 || 36,571 55,039 Total .. & 11,539 24,735 | 83,537 | 124,772 Mr. Redgrave gives * a comparative table of the increase of flax factories:— 1851. 1861. 1871. 1875. No. of factories . . . . 393 439 59S 620 ,, spinning spindles 965,031 1,252,236 1,710,2951,712,001 ,, power looms .. 6,092 15,348 39,73S 51,601 - | The proportion of spinning spindles to factories was 2455 in 1850, to 2760 in 1875, and of the power-looms 15 in 1850, to 82 in 1875. The power-loom weavers had increased thus:— In 1861 ... . . . . . . 11,173 ,, 1871 . . . . . . . . 25,706 ,, 1875 . . . . . . . . 33,393 So that the proportion of looms to weavers had slightly increased also, viz. from 1% in 1861 to 1% in 1875. As compared with the cotton weavers (p. 9), flax weavers have been increasing instead of declining. * Factory Report, 1875. 38 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Mr. Redgrave also shows the increase of the workers generally:— 1850 IS61 1871 1875 Children up to 13 ... 1,581 3,644 || 5,562 | 12,678 Males 13 to 18 . . . . . 8,012 8,754 13,666 15,195 , above is . . . ii.998 || 16.846 28.36s 31.3% Females above 13 ... 46,843 65 5,039 || 97,896 112,570 The proportions borne by each class of ages to the total are— i | 1850. 1875. - - | Children . . . . . . . 2 - 3 7. Males 13 to 18 . . 11 - 1 9. 17. 18 Females ... . . . . . 69.9 66. f º , above 18 .. The details of the flax trade differ from the cotton trade in initio, from the fact that a large proportion of the raw material is of native growth, the remainder that is used in the factories being made up by supplies from Russia, Belgium, Italy, and other countries. Mr. Charley, M.P., has told us * about the Irish flax crop, its times and seasons, and the means that are taken for pulling the plant, “rippling,” or separating the seed capsules from the stems, steeping or “retting,” “grass- ing,” and lifting the flax. So far the details are those of an agricultural kind, though the manufacturing stage may be said also to commence in the country districts where the flax is grown, in the shape of the “scutching” mills, to which the flax straw is taken * “British Manufacturing Industries.” FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 39 by the farmers in the neighbourhood, to be broken and roughly cleaned and prepared for the flax spinning factory. In 1874 the number of scutching mills in Ireland was given at 1380, viz. Ulster 1295, Leinster 25, Munster 31, Connaught 29. They are, however, declining in number (in 1872 there were 102 more), pointing to the fact that not so much flax is grown as heretofore. Cookstown, Ballymena, and other places in Ulster, are the centres of the flax markets and these scutching mills, which latter, both in their machinery and external appearance, are sorry places enough. The workers in them are, the scutchers, men and boys on piecework, who get paid so much per stone, and, there- fore, are induced to labour at all kinds of untimely hours; and “strickers,” who make up the flax into handfuls for the scutchers, as it comes from the rolls when it is broken. Women frequently superintend these rolls, and as they are almost entirely unprotected, bad accidents are not uncommon from the flax and tow catching the dress and dragging the worker in. The mills themselves, being built without the least regard to ventilation, are full of dust and flax spiculae, which tend to produce chronic cough and phthisis, while ophthalmia and opacity of the cornea are also common, according to the testimony of Mr. Hamilton, a certify- ing surgeon in the district.* The scutching season, when these mills are busiest, is from September to April. Mr. Hamilton gives a miserable picture of the dirty, ill-fed operatives, and mentions that “in some of the mountainous districts they have of late years become addicted to aether drinking, as a rapid and * Factory Reports, 1875. 40 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. cheap stimulant, which they can procure in any quan- tity at the small country grocers. Sunday is too often spent by the parents and grown-up children in drinking bad whiskey.” Indeed the intemperance of this class is such, that to be “as thirsty as a scutcher” has passed into a proverb. The factory life of the flax commences with the spinning, in which the first process is the rough sorting, followed by cutting with a circular saw, so as to divide the flax into three lengths, which are collected into separate heaps or “stricks.” Boys gene- rally superintend these saws, which, up to 1874, were exposed, and frequently caused considerable laceration to the hands of the workers. In that year, how- ever, a Mr. McComb invented a safety-guard by which the cutting edges were fenced in, without deteriorating from their efficiency. The operation of sorting is almost always performed by men, with a comb, and except for yielding a fair amount of dust, contains nothing peculiar in it. “Heckling,” which comes next, is a most important process, in which the bundles of flax are fixed in clams by screws, and made to travel backwards and forwards between pairs of combs or “heckles,” which comb out the tow or short fibres, and arrange the long fibres parallel. By this the appearance is very much improved, the fibres assuming a silvery grey or yellowish colour, and looking like silk. Heckling, which is performed by girls and boys, is always a very dusty operation, and requires a good deal of continuous labour. In the Report of Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, it is said that “the ill effects of the heckling efforts upon the boys (technically called FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 41 machine boys) engaged in it are shown in spasmodic attacks of cough, during which the boy generally holds on to the machine to assist the efforts of coughing; an effort so familiar to workers, that a boy who is observed doing so, is said to be ‘poucey,' from the ‘pouce ’’ or dust by which the cough is provoked. This dust is both fibrous and granular, but the latter very largely preponderates. It is for the most part a fine, soft, and palpable powder, proceeding evidently in great part from the putrefying process to which the flax plant has been subjected. Mixed with these Organic particles there is, doubtless, a considerable portion of pulverized mud.” This peculiar affection is spoken of as being very common in the Belfast mills by Dr. Charles Purdon,t the certifying surgeon, who also mentions, en passant, that the machine boys are largely addicted to chewing tobacco, consuming from half an ounce to one ounce each week. But either this state of things has improved, or it is more common in Belfast than in Leeds or Dundee, which are the other great centres of the flax trade ; for Messrs. Marshall, who are probably the largest spinners in the world, assure me that there is no such thing in their mills; and certainly the girls in their heckling room, as in all the other departments, appeared to be healthy and happy enough. The sorting, which succeeds the heck- ling, is performed by men, who also hand-heckle the flax, so as to pass it over finer combs than can be done by machinery. Although apparently simple, it is not an easy operation, and demands a long apprenticeship, * Query. Is this derived from poussière 2 † Factory Reports, 1870. 42 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. so as to be able to give the peculiar touch desired. The heckled flax is next brought to the “gill frame * to be spread and drawn, being fed on to a feeding cloth or endless apron, and then delivered to the gills, whence it issues as a sliver. This is taken in the can to the drawing frame, where uniformity is given to the ribbon, and thence to the roving frame, as in cotton and other textiles: and this is the last operation pre- vious to the spinning. There is, however, first of all, another portion of the process to be considered, viz., the preparation of tow, which is the short and coarse fibre of the flax produced during its cleansing, and which contains a great deal more dust, dirt, and woody fibre. This, after being sorted, is carded just like cotton, except that it is on a rougher scale, and makes infinitely more dust. The tow-carding room is the worst place in the mill, and the clothes of the workers are generally loaded with the dust which floats thickly through the room, not- withstanding the adoption of powerful exhaust fans in the roof or the external walls. What with the dust and the damp from the steam jets, it is the most un- healthy employment in flax spinning; but, though efforts have been repeatedly made to induce the women to wear respirators, it has been without success. After the carding, the tow goes through the other processes like the flax, and is then taken to be spun, the great difference, both in this and the flax, to other textiles being, (1) the use of throstles instead of mules, (2) the comparatively slow speed of the spindles, and (3) the practice of wet spinning, by first of all drawing the roving through a trough of warm water, before it is spun. FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 43 The object of this is, to soften the fibre by dissolving the gum, so as to prevent its breaking, and, the coarser the yarn, the more heat and moisture are required. The result is, to produce not only an exceedingly warm atmosphere, but also a very damp one, owing to the spray that is sent off from the spindles, it being well known that the flax spinners used to get their clothes saturated with moisture, and to suffer accordingly. This evil was so strongly recognized, that, in the Factory Act of 1844 (7 & 8 Vic. c. 15), special provision was made for the more efficient sanitary supervision of children in wet spinning flax mills. To a very great extent, the evil is remedied by a splash-board placed in front of the spindles, so as to shield the worker from the damp, which in well-regulated mills can be, and has been, reduced to a minimum, while, with proper ventilation, the temperature rarely should exceed 70°. Where these precautions as to temperature are not taken, mischief arises from the alternations from the hot damp spinning room to the outer air, particularly in the case of girls with delicate chests. Dr. Purdon, speaking of the Irish mills,” mentions that the “dof- fers” (usually full-time girls, who are learning to be spinners), on their first being employed at flax mills, are attacked with a kind of fever, which, however, runs a specific course and ceases after a few days. It is probable that the insufficient diet to which many of the Irish children are accustomed may have a predisposing tendency to these ailments, from which a well-nurtured child would be free. But, as compared with other textiles, there is no * Factory Reports, 1873. 44 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. l doubt but that the flax trade is the most unhealthy, and no person should work in it who has any pul- monary weakness. Dr. Purdon, to whom I must again refer, says, in his evidence,” that “nearly three-fifths of those that die annually in this trade are taken off by diseases of the respiratory organs. In the preparing rooms, the death-rate from chest affections is exceedingly high, being 31 per 1000, and amongst the hecklers, the deaths annually amount to 11’ 1 per 1000, amongst the weavers to 9 per 1000. In wet spinning, the children often get their clothes wet with the spray that comes off from the spindles, and on coming out of the hot room with their clothes damp in the evening, it brings on bronchial affections.” The same observer statest that the average life of flax carders is 45 7 years, and the average length of time employed 16 8 years; of preparers, average of employ- ment, 28: 7; of dressers, average of employment, 16’ 6. From an analysis of the fibre, it seems that 100 parts of flax contain 13 of silica. From the preceding facts it would appear, that the Belfast mills are not in that state of sanitary arrangement in which they ought to be. It seems that in the Scotch districts (Dundee and Arbroath) where much coarse sailcloth is made, most of the spinning is dry, and though the evil of damp is not present, that of dust is. This, however, is partly counteracted by the slow speed at which the spinning is carried on, and by the sanitary arrangements of the large Dundee mills, which are very good. Linen * Factory and Workshops Act Commission, 1875. f Longevity of Flax Mill Operatives, 1875. FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 45 weaving is like most other kinds, and the descrip- tion of the cotton weavers will stand for this ; the chief difference is that the weavers, who are mostly women, rarely have to mind more than two looms, and frequently not more than one. The Registrar-General's tables of mortality do not furnish us much information as to the flax workers in general. The deaths of males in England for 1871 were 191, thus:— | | . | 5– 10- 15- 20- 25- 35- 45– 55– 65– 75 13 || 11 | 16 *|*||a|w The Factory Returns of 1871 give the following table as to weekly wages, a list of which I append from the two spinning districts of Leeds and Dundee :— Leeds. Dundee S. d. S. d. S. d S. d Overlookers ... .. 20 0 to 40 0 25 0 to 35 0 Warehousemen e tº 16 0 ,, 18 0 15 0 , 25 0 Roughers . . . . . . 20 0 , 25 0 Hecklers . . . . . . 5 0 , 6 6 7 6 , 10 6 Sorters . . . . . . 20 0 , 25 0 Preparers . . . . . . 6 0 , 7 3 5 0 , 8 0 Spinners 6 3 , 7 3 7 0 , 13 0 Doffers • * * * 5 0 , 6 6 Reelers . . . . . . 8 0 , 10 0 8 0 , 15 0 Dressers . . . . . . . 20 0 , 25 0 Carders . . . . . . 8 6 , 10 0 Combers . . . . . . 8 0 , 9 0 Bundlers . . . . . . 18 0 , 20 0 Winders . . . . . . 7 0 , 15 0 Weavers . . . . . . 15 0 S ,, 16 0 Warpers . . . . . . 11 0 46 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. In 1876 they were as follows: Overlookers Warehousemen Machine boys .. Hecklers .. Roughers .. Sorters Preparers .. Spinners Doffers Reelers Engine-men Mechanics Dressers Half-timers Carders Bundlers .. Winders Weavers Warpers TenterS Oilers Dundee. Belfast. S. d. S. d. S. d S. d 25 0 to 35 0 20 0 , 30 0 6 0 to 7 () 8 0 , 11 0 18 0 , 20 0 11 0 24 0 10 0 5 6 , 7 3 10 6, 15 0 5 6 , 9 9 7 0 , 8 6 9 0 , 17 0 7 6, 9 6 21 0 , 26 0 - 22 0 , 32 0 20 0 , 29 0 11 3 ,, 20 0 3 0 10 0 10 0 , 20 0 9 0 , 16 0 8 0 (piece-work) 10 0 , 20 0 6 0 to 10 0 (piece-work) 13 0 , 16 0 7 0 to 12 0 16 0 and 5% on amount of weaver's wages. 15 0 to 30 0 The commercial statistics of flax are, for the last decade :- IMPORTS, Flaw, Dressed or Undressed. Year. Quantity. Value. cWts. f 1866 1,277,491 3,794,423 1867 1,261,488 § 1868 1,546,816 4,461,315 1869 1,233,002 3,488,957 FLAX, LINEN, AND J UTE. 47 Year. Quantity. Value. cwtS. f 1870 1,998,494 5,181,486 1871 2,142,482 5,030,431 1872 1,695,644 4,431,983 1873 1,922,678 4,801,458 1874 2,026,113 4,939,706 1875 1,464,735 8,884,973 Tow or Codilla of Flag, or Hemp. 1866 288,571 699,773 1867 203,149 478,270 1868 322,565 703,282 I869 371,130 779,032 1870 432,076 859,983 1871 518,483 847,488 1872 380,243 663,940 1873 320,632 569,858 1874 406,500 695,613 1875 374,566 613,634 Hemp and other substances (except Jute). 1866 996,219 1,713,277 1867 869,571 1,634,965 1868 1,046,135 2,055,481 1869 1,022,110 1,907,959 1870 1,079,608 2,034,326 1871 1,245,019 2,267,571 1872 1,115,946 2,111,240 1873 1,252,515 2,321,706 1874 1,236,475 2, 190,124 1875 1,321,559 2,214,666 Our principal sources of supply are Belgium (neigh- bourhood of Courtrai) for dressed flax; Russia, Bel- gium, and Holland, for rough or undressed, and Russia for tow or codilla:— 48 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. EXPORTS. Linen Yarn. Year. Quantity. Walue. - lbs. f 1866 33,608,171 2,374,132 1867 34,002,479 2,449,394 186S 32,769,306 2,308,494 1869 34,570,316 2,332,088 1870 37,239,314 2,237,492 1871 36,235,625 2,218,129 1872 31,187,051 2,131,071 1873 28,734,212 1,976,830 1874 27,154,906 1,716,231 1875 27,887,681 1,855,684 Linen, White or Plain. yards. 1866 232,837,903 7,891,743 1867 198,175,721 6,431,059 1868 197,635,508 6,173,898 1869 204,658,286 6,022,230 1870 210,405,228 6,271,734 1871 207,041,820 6,377,010 1872 233,838,338 7,241,338 1873 195,404,195 6,204,800 1874. 180,926,285 5,876,864 1875 186,763,770 5,904,958 Linens, Printed, Checked, or Dyed. 1866 15,998,705 659,439 1867 8,244,454 334,427 1868 8,887,854 344,902 1869 7,131,957 268,211 1870 12,405,841 421,178 1871 9,296,124 311,538 1872 7,397,940 233,736 1873 8,197,598 260,639 1874 8,987,132 287,754 1875 13,742,124 470,295 FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 49 Most of our dressed and undressed flax goes to the United States; of the linen yarn, to Spain and the Canaries, Germany, Holland, and Belgium ; of plain or unbleached linen piece goods, to the United States, West Indies, Australia, and North America; of printed linen goods, damasks, and diapers, to France, United States, and Australia. The jute trade is, in many respects, so similar to that of flax, that, except for the statistics, it need not detain us long. As far as the numbers engaged in it, it will be better to group together, not only the jute spinners proper, but also those who are occupied in elaborating the material into canvas, sailcloth, sacking, bags, &c. The Census tables give for England:— Males. Females. Total. Jute manufacture . . . . 279 s & 279 Canvas and sailcloth S05 260 1065 Sacking and bag 714. 1515 2229 for Scotland:— Males. Females. Total. . Jute manufacture . . . . 1395 3606 5001 Canvas and sailcloth .. 375 660 1035 Sacking and bag sº tº 349 977 1326 The Factory Returns of 1874 give the following summary of the jute trade :- E 50 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. No. of No. of No. Of * * * Fiºs. sº ºf England . . . . . . ... 15 21,754 927 Scotland | 84 185,419 8,325 Ireland II 13,738 347 Total . . . . . . . . . 110 220,911 9,599 employing— Child Mal F les |*|sºlº ºn tº . | England ... 361 501 779 3,292 || 4,933 Scotland . . 2,920 2,980 || 5,380 19,613. 30,893 Ireland . . 12 189 285 1,608 2,094 With the exception of a few jute factories in London and elsewhere, and also in Belfast, the Scotch districts —Dundee, Glasgow, and Arbroath—monopolize the whole trade. Pormerly jute used to be spun as flax, which it re- sembles in fibre, though much coarser. It was heckled, so as to get as much as possible of the fine fibre, and separate it from the coarse. The latter, however, so greatly predominated, that it was found to be an useless expense, and it was, therefore, treated like tow, and placed at once in the carding engine. As it is even coarser than tow, one would naturally think that more dust would arise, and that the trade would surpass the flax trade in unhealthiness; but this is not so, owing to the necessity for Saturating the jute with oil, so as to FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 51 make the coarse and brittle fibres flexible. Its very roughness, therefore, has proved a sanitary Safeguard to the workers. The busy town of Dundee, with its population of 90,425, may be said to have arisen from jute, but I fear that it has reached its highest point of prosperity, as far as this particular trade is concerned. For one thing, a large jute manufacturing trade has Sprung up at Calcutta, where there are no laws to regulate the hours of labour in the factories, and the consequence is, that not only is the Indian market taken away from Dundee, but the Indian manufactories are supplying San Francisco, and even offering sackings and other goods in London at a cheaper rate than they can be produced at Dundee There are now in and about Calcutta ten jute-spinning mills, employing 2500 looms; and in the whole of Bengal, there are upwards of 4000 looms. The prospects of the Indian mills are so good, that a Dundee manufacturer has recently transferred his operations to the banks of the Hooghly. Another profitable market, viz. that of Dun- kirk, to which large quantities were sent annually from Dundee, for the benefit of Northern France, is not only closed, but manufacturers formerly residing at Dundee have actually built mills at Dunkirk, finding that they can obtain labour cheaper, with an absence of trade disputes and strikes. The unkindest cut of all is, that Dunkirk is supplying Dundee with jute goods, and thus the latter town is being hoist with its own petard. If we compare these facts with those of Sheffield, the increase of the cotton trade in India, the importation of Woollen yarn and of iron from E 2 52 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Belgium, of locomotives from the Creuzot works in France, and of ready-made door and window frames from Norway, we shall find ample food for reflection and some cause for alarm. The divisions of labour in the jute mills are much the same as in other textiles, and the wages, as given in the Factory Returns of 1871, and in 1876, are :— Preparers .. Spinners Piecers Shifters Bobbin carriers Winders Reelers Warpers Mechanics Oilers Tenters . . . . Assistant ditto.. Weavers (girls) Half-timers Twisters Carders Rovers Drawers Feeders Bundlers .. 1871. Per Week. S. d. S. 6 6 to 8 8 6 , 9 4 6 , 7 3 9 , 5 4 6 8 0 , 12 8 6 , II 8 0 , 13 25 0 , 28 15 6 25 0 18 0 9 3 , 12 2 0 9 3 8 6 8 6 8 0 8 3 11 0 1876. Per Week. d. S. d. S. d. O 10 0 6 12 0 to 15 0 0 9 0 , 10 0 9 7 0 , 8 6 7 0 0 9 0 , 16 0 6 13 0 , 16 0 0 13 0 , 16 0 0 22 0 , 32 0 II 0 30 0 , 35 0 21 0 , 24 0 0 10 0 , 20 0 3 0 12 6 10 0 I3 0 10 0 11 6 10 0 , 20 0 The jute imported during the last ten years was— Year. Quantity. Value. CWtS. f 1866 1,625,903 1,476,244 1867 1,582,611 1,414,321 1868 2,182,521 1,936,230 FLAX, LINEN, AND JUTE. 53 Year. Quantity. Value. CW tS. i :É 1869 2,467,817 2,143,100 I870 2,376,690 2,326,910 1871 3,454,120 3,729,735 1872 4,041,018 3,954,698 1873 4,624,918 3,619,989 1874 4,270,164 3,553,179 1875 3,416,617 2,575,512 Our principal source of supply of jute is British India, Bengal, and Burmah:— EXPORTS. Jute Manufactures. Year. Quantity. Value. yards. :6 1866 19,394,926 361,857 1867 26,745,187 455,396 1868 43,081,332 706,966 1869 50,127,853 742,801 1870 51,920,808 789,657 1871 62,310,463 1,026,759 1872 84,452,457 1,486,484 IS73 95,935,108 1,590,850 1874. 112,810,415 1,679,766 I875 101,105,579 1,404,997 Jute Yarn. lbs. 1866 7,761,391 128,704 1867 7,520,911 117,028 1868 8,108,101 126,045 I869 8,041,082 126,691 1870 12,669,948 196,465 1871 13,710,957 262,057 1872 12,715,969 261,239 1873 12,263,805 206,521 1874 15,724,988 245,784 1875 15,942,618 225,836 54 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Sailcloth and Sails. Year. Quantity. Value. yards. #. 1866 6,795,777 361,027 1867 4,942,893 265,397 186S 3,591,020 200,401 1869 3,002,311 177,677 I870 3,659,627 192,862 I871 4,129,532 222,675 IS72 3,783,126 225,291 1873 4,521,683 263,276 1874. 4,769,047 286,339 1875 4,067,278 243,312 Of jute manufactures, Germany and the United States take the largest quantity, and of Sailcloth, Germany and Sweden. ( 55 ) CEIAPTER III. WOOLLENS AND WORSTED. NEXT to the cotton trade, that of woollens and worsted is the most important textile in Great Britain, employ- ing, according to the Census tables: MALES. Woollens. Worsted. Stuff. England .. 71,683 34,053 4,619 Scotland .. 14, 170 511 tº & Ireland 2,524 tº e : FEMALES. England .. 56,781 60,713 1,747 Scotland .. 13,180 937 gº tº Ireland 1,436 * & In addition to these formidable numbers, there are many others classed in the same group, engaged in subsidiary employments, a list of which will be found at p. 2; and the total of all those amounted to: Males. Females. Total. England .. 128,984 124,506 || 253,490 Scotland .. 18,402 || 23,815 42,217 Ireland .. 2,852 12,846 15,698 Total .. * 161,167 || 311,405 56 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. The ages of the English workers in the woollen cloths were: 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– Males 298 6,456 11,176 8,477 14.018 Females 261 7,304 || 14,964 11,207 10,912 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 Males 10,906 || 9,185 6,529 3,069 1,069 Females 5,643 || 3,429 1,779 946 336 It will be noticed that there is a tolerable equality in the numbers of each sex, and that a large proportion of both consists of young people. - The Factory Returns divide the trade into three sections: I. WOOL. -* No. Of No. Of NO. Of rº S dº * sing tº. Machines. Spindles. - Looms. England 1,550 10,462 2,071,931 37,356 Scotland 218 1,010 421,489 10,543 Ireland 61 237 28,348 24l 2. SHODDY. England º 120 | * | 1832n | 2,690 | 3. WORSTED. England 599 291 | 1,766,636 63,345 Scotland 28 206 53,740 1,201 Ireland 3 & e 768 10 Total 2,579 || 12,730 4,476,123 115,386 WOOL LENS AND WORSTED. 57 Employing in all three classes: Children Males, Males Females Total up to 13. 13 to 18. |above 18. above 13. - England ... ... 24,297 20,600 63,058 99,755 207,710 Ireland 151 694 718 1,563 Scotland . . . . * 2,927 | 8,140 17,773 28,968 Total . . . . * * 71,892 118,246 238,241 The apparent discrepancies between the Census and the Factory Returns is explained by the fact that there is, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, an immense amount of labour connected with the woollen trade which did not come under the Factory Returns, such as wool spinners and knitters at home, both of whom figure largely in the former tables ; and although textile labour is usually associated in our minds with factory life, we are bound to recognize the domestic conditions of work also. Mr. Redgrave gives us * a comparative statement of the progress of the wool and worsted trades, and tells us that the number of factories was : 1850. | 1861. 1871. 1875. Wool ... ... 1,497 1,679 1,949 1,925 Worsted .. 501 532 630 629 With spinning spindles to the amount of: 1850. 1861. 1871. 1875. | - - WOOl 1,595,278 2,182,609 || 2,664,979 3,266,703 Worsted 875,830 1,289,172 1,821,144 2,182,792 * Factory Reports, 1875. 58 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. And of power-looms: 1850. 1861. isii. 1875 Wool . . . . | 9,439 21,770 50,830 58,527 Worsted 32,617 43,048 64,659 81,747 | t i The proportion of spinning spindles to factories was 1850. 1875. Wool .. 1,065 1,696 Worsted 1,748 3,154 And of power-looms to factories: 1850. 1875. Wool . . 6 30 Worsted 65 118 showing the tendency to concentrate machinery. The number of power-loom weavers was: i 1861. 1871. 1875. WoO1 .. 17,115 35,140 42,647 Worsted 28,787 35,746 39,937 showing a proportion of looms to each weaver of: 1861. 1875. Wool .. 1} 13 Worsted 1% 2 WOOD LENS AND WORSTED. - 59 The number of employés for the different periods was, in the wool: Year. chiº *P Males up to s Above 18. º: IS50 7,094 11,884 28,655 26,810 1861 5,969 11,213 35,179 34,622 1871 6,021 14,197 47,302 61,426 1875 8,588 13,972 49,169 66,324 and in worsted: Year. chiº, *P Males up to 18. Above 18. º: 1850 9,956 7,695 15,185 46,901 1861 13,178 6,614 18,619 47,652 IS71 18,306 9,481 24,950 56,280 IS75 29,828 11,259 31,622 69,388 The first operations to which the wool is exposed, after it has come in from the woolstapler into the factory, are, Washing, scouring, and picking, the scour- ing being done by machinery so as effectually to get rid of the grease in the fleece. After being dried, the “picking ” is performed by passing the wool through the blower, or the “willowing ” machine, the object being to separate all dirt and refuse, together with the coarser fibres, which, however, are carefully taken up again and worked in subsequently. While the willow- ing is going on, the wool is being oiled with almost invisible sprays of oil, but this is sometimes done by placing the wool on an endless apron and passing it under an oiled brush. The picking and blowing is 60 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. usually a woman's work, and as the machine is pretty nearly self-acting, the Occupation is not heavy, and, save for the dust, and, in the case of black wool, a good deal of flue, there is not much that is unpleasant about it. At this stage of the proceedings, the wool is mixed, or “blended,” when required, with commoner materials, such as mungo (pickings of broadcloths) or “shoddy” (the pickings of all sorts of old textile odds and ends). To the shoddy mills I shall refer a little later on. The chief difference in the details between cotton and wool spinning is, that the latter, after being carded, is taken direct to the mule, without the intermediate stages of drawing and roving. The first carding, too, is called “scribbling,” the wool being fed on to the apron of the scribbler, on the other side of which it is taken up by the carding engine. The being able to dispense with some of these operations explains the fact that the number of children (p. 59) employed have so slightly increased since 1850. As a fact, they have increased, but when we look at the much larger number of spindles, the proportion is so small that it is tanta- mount to a decrease. “We may give the example of a carding room where we found ten sets of engines at work. All these were under the care of nine persons (all women and boys), who seemed to us by no means hard worked. Before the self-feeding machinery was introduced, the same work would have occupied ten men (slubbers), ten women (feeders), and from twenty to thirty half-timers, or other young persons, as piecers.” Mule-spinning for woollens being a good * Messrs. Bridges and Holmes’ Report, 1873. WOOD LENS AND WORSTED. 61 deal slower than for cottons, one spinner is enabled to superintend two mules at once. Nor, as a rule, does piecing require such continuous strain on the atten- tion as cotton, as the threads do not break so much ; black wool, however, demands an extra sharp sight from the piecer. Neither does wool yarn require so warm a temperature as cotton yarn; and the good results of this are shown in the improved sanitary con- ditions of a woollen as against a cotton mill, the former being undoubtedly the most healthy of the textiles as far as the operatives are concerned. The same general character applies to the weaving, the looms being a good deal broader than those of cotton, and each requiring one weaver to look after it. From the comparative slowness of the motion, there is less dust, vibration, and noise. After the weaving is at an end, the cloth undergoes several important processes before it is “finished,” the first of which are a series of “pickings,” principally by women, so as to remove double threads, knots, or any other inequalities. The first is called “raw pick- ing,” the second “burling,” the third “finishing picking.” It is said to be trying to the eyes; although in the case of thick cloths, the touch is so educated to the work, that an experienced picker depends almost entirely upon it. 'The cloth has now to undergo some rough treatment in the shape of “fulling,” or “milling,” by which, through the agency of wooden hammers or rollers, the fibres are made to contract or “felt.” After being scoured, by being placed in a very uninviting composition, it is dressed, 62 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, or “gigged,” the object being to raise up the surface of the cloth by means of teazles. This raised surface is then cut or “sheared,” principally by boys, so as to give a smooth gloss; and after sundry manipulations, pressings, and brushings, the cloth is packed ready for Sale. \ I should mention here, that some of the varieties of wool do not appear to be so healthy as regards mani- pulation as others. The alpaca and mohair wools (produced from the llama) appear to contain a con- siderable quantity of mineral dust, which affects the sorters so far as to give rise to a so-called “sorter's disease.” The bales are opened in a specially arranged trellis-floored room, by which the greater portion of the dust is conveyed away; but still the operatives in this department are liable to “an acute congestion of the lungs, followed by a rapid failure of the heart and circulation, leading, in a large number of cases, to death within two or three days.” ” It appears, how- ever, to be principally confined to sorters of irregular habits and failing constitutions. As Lancashire is the head-quarters of the cotton trade, so is the West Riding for woollens, Leeds, Bradford, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, and Rochdale, being the localities in which they most abound. The trade, however, is an important one on the banks of the Tweed, such as at Hawick and Galashiels; and, again, in the West of England, in the Stroud valley, occupying the slopes and dingles of the Cotswold hills, * “On so-called Sorter's Disease,” by W. H. Ellis, M.R.C.S. WOOL LEN'S AND WORSTED. 63 and on the banks of the Avon, giving occupation to the populations of Bradford, Trowbridge, and Frome. Probably no branch of the textiles has undergone such alteration for the better, as regards the workers in it. Instead of the miserable, ill-arranged mills which formerly abounded, handsome buildings, almost pala- tial in their structure, and with every modern im- provement, are now to be seen in many parts of the clothing districts. It is, however, in the treatment of the operatives that the most striking changes are found. I extract the following from evidence given before the Factory Committee of 1833, which needs no com- ment : “ . . . . Her child works at a mill nearly two miles from home, and I have seen that child coming from its work this winter between ten and eleven in the evening; and the mother told me that on one occasion the child had been up by two o'clock in the morning, when it had only arrived from work at eleven ; it had then to go the two miles to the mill, and stay at the door till the overlooker came to open it. . . . “Q. What has been the treatment which the children received at the mills 2 - “A. They are so cruelly treated that they dare not for their lives be too late at their work in the morn- ing. When I have been at the mills in the winter season, when they are at work in the evening, the very first thing they inquire is, ‘What o'clock is it 2 ' If I should answer “seven, they say, ‘Only seven it is a 64 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. great while to ten ; but we must not give up till ten o'clock, or past.’ They appear in such a state of apathy and insensibility as not to know whether they are doing their work or not ; they usually throw a bunch of ten or twelve cordings across the hand, and take one off at a time ; but I have seen the bunch entirely finished, and they have attempted to take off another when they have not had a cording at all. “Q. Do they make mistakes in piecing when thus fatigued ? “A. Yes; the errors are, that they are apt to place the cording obliquely, which causes a flying and makes bad yarn; and when the billy-spinner (overlooker) sees that, he takes his strap or the billy-roller (a heavy rod two or three yards long, with an iron pivot at each end), and says, “D–n thee, close it, little devil, close it, and then he smites the child with the strap or the billy-roller. “Q. How are they beaten ? “A. That depends on the humanity of the billy- spinner; some have been beaten so violently that they have lost their lives in consequence, and even a young girl has had the end of a billy-roller jammed through her cheek. I have seen them take the roller and rap them on the head, making their heads crack so, that you might have heard the blow at a distance of six or eight yards, in spite of the din of the machinery.” From another witness we have the following: Q. “Have you remarked that cases of deformity are very common in Bradford 2 WOOL LENS AND WORSTED. 65 A. “They are very common. I have the names and addresses of two hundred families that I have myself visited, that have all deformed children; and I have taken particular care not to put down one single indi- vidual to whom it had happened by accident, but all whom I judge to have grown crooked by the practice of piecing and of throwing up the right shoulder, and of bending the right knee.” These are only very small samples of similar acts of inhumanity and brutality that prevailed in the textiles, and particularly the woollen mills, of those days; and it is to the Earl of Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley) that the operatives of the North of England are mainly indebted for the legislation which this inquiry evoked. I have shown at p. 27 the comparative healthiness of the woollen trade as compared with other textiles, although, at the same time, it is stated that the death- rate of women between fifteen and forty-five in the cloth districts stands higher than in the English life table, being 1009 per 100,000 per annum in Hudders- field, and 941 at Dewsbury, during the years 1870–1. The Registrar-General gives the following table of deaths of English males for 1871 : 5— | 10– 15– Total. 20– 25— 35— 45– 55– ºs- 75 1381 I 9 n 60 | 1.47 108 || 165 |al 313| 276 The average weekly earnings of operatives in the woollen mills are: 66 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1871 1876 S. d. S. d. S. d. S. d. Wool washers 16 0 Card hands 10 0 12 0 to 14 0 Comb hands gº tº 10 6 Layers on for scribblers 7 6 to 12 0 Card setters or cleaners 17 0 , 20 0 18 0 , 24 0 Woollyers (men) ... ... 15 0 , 20 0 20 0 , 25 0 Self-acting mule minders... 15 0 , 23 0 , 26 0 , 30 0 Self-acting mule piecers .. 5 0 , 7 0 || 8 0 , 12 0 Self-acting mule piecers N (half-timers) .. º 2 6 , 3 6 || 3 0 , 4 0 Rag-grinders ... 20 0 , 21 0 Warpers . . . . . . 12 0 ,, 18 0 Power-loom weavers .. I0 0 , 16 0 , 14 0 , 20 0 Wool SOrters 18 0 , 26 0 25 0 , 30 0 25 0 Fulling millers .. 20 0 | and 22 0 , 30 0 35 0 Cloth raisers, cutters, pressers, tenters, º 20 0 , 24 0 || 28 0 , 35 0 drawers .. & e º is Burlers g tº 9 0 , 12 0 Dyers .. s a e g º º 24 0 , 30 0 Menders and **) I3 0 | (women) .. tº c | Oil extractors ... 24 0 Mechanics . . 27 0 , 30 0 Rag pressers 8 0 Hand spinners 20 0 , 28 0 Giggers 18 0 , 23 0 Machinists .. 23 0 $22 0 , 25 0 Hand raisers I6 0 , 22 0 Foremen 33 0 , 35 0 30 0 , 40 0 In alpaca wools the earnings were (1876):- Wool SOrters 31s. , washers 18s. to 19s. ., combers 16s. , 17s. WOO L LENS AND WORSTED. 67 Spinners and drawers Overlookers .. Weavers (men) .. 35 (women) 53 two looms Overlookers Mechanics .. Joiners.. Masons Engine-men 4s. 30s. 20s. 15s. 18s. 30s. 30s. 30s. 30s. 19s. to 11s. ,, 40s. ,, 25s. ,, 208. ,, .22s. , 348. ,, 30s. Warehousemen .. Dyers 18s. , 21s. 22s. , 248. The commercial statistics of the woollen trade are as follows:— Imports of wool of sheep, lamb, alpaca, and the llama tribe. (Professor Archer, in his article on wool, * gives us an admirable résumé of the varieties of sheep which furnish wool to the trade.) Year. Quantity. Value. lbs. f 1866 239,358,689 17,550,871 I867 233,703,184 16,178,034 I868 252,744,155 15,120,498 1869 258,461,689 14,696,746 1870 263,250,499 15,812,598 1871 323,036,299 17,926,639 I872 306,379,664 18,523,350 1873 318,036,779 19,541,678 1874 344,470,897 21,116,184 I875 365,065,578 23,437,413 * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ 68 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. and of yarn for weaving— Year. Quantity. Value. lbs. f I866 6,997,889 1,574,527 1867 5,514,947 1,089,350 I868 8,950,692 1,561,371 1869 9,587,631 1,677,834 1870 9,683,402 1,511,171 1871 11,665,465 1,097,289 1872 11,706,427 1,382,084 1873 13,169,662 1,496,463 1874 13,131,850 1,494,945 1875 11,700,928 1,327,887 Our alpaca, llama, and vicuna wools, come from New Granada, Peru, and Chili; and of sheep's or lamb's wool, the principal supplies are from Australia, South Africa, Bombay, and Scinde, and the southern parts of Russia. On the other hand we export wool to Germany, Holland, France, &c. :— WOOL. Year. Quantities. Value. lbs. f 1866 9,732,683 895,356 º 1867 8,862,197 775,834 1868 9,510,881 736,035 I869 12,410,225 922,159 1870 9,101,405 580,570 I S7L 11,957,282 828,799 I872 7,605,146 629,275 IS73 7,034,745 620,848 1874. 10,077,619 920,415 1875 10,536,523 928,264 WOOD, LENS AND WORSTED. 69 YARN. Year. Quantities. Value. lbs. f 1866 26,577,694 4,547,043 1867 36,952,474 5,739,340 1868 42,799,410 6,203,174 I869 37,185,740 5,538,295 I870 35,536,848 4,994,249 1871 43,725,577 6,100,727 IS72 39,734,924 6,110,138 IS73 34,744,507 5,393,493 I874 34,981,008 5,558,560 1875 31,723,627 5,099,307 and of cloths, coatings, flannels, blankets, baizes, &c.:— CLOTHS. Year. Quantities. Value yards. f 1866 32,514,358 5,303,602 1867 31,189,209 5,327,375 1868 24,622,230 3,760,961 IS69 28,218,489 4,275,858 1870 32,404,719 4,749,165 1S71 35,583,697 5,563,037 1S72 40,734,224 6,991,718 1873 38,633,833 6,599,635 IS74 40,331,686 6,642,222 1875 42,058,354 6,850,203 I866 14,488,240 1,161,615 I867 11,126,055 859,519 1S6S 12,727,805 963,866 IS69 14,925,716 1,099,299 1870 14,985,389 I,078,983 1871 14,091,282 1,030,302 IS72 15,022,122 1,104,835 1873 14,447,313 1,089,864 1874 16,004,436 1,318,007 1875 16,109,787 1,239,637 70 BRITISH MANUFACTURING IND USTRIES. The United States, Germany, and France, are our best customers for broad cloths, coatings, and duffels; Australia and North America for narrow cloths and coatings; Brazil and Australia for blanketings; Aus- tralia and North America for flannels. In the same group as the woollens must be placed the worsted manufacture, which is considerably more localized than the former, its chief seat being Bradford (Yorkshire), Halifax, Keighley, and the smaller towns in their neighbourhood. It is also carried on, though to a much smaller extent, in Scotland (Glasgow). The chief difference at the outset of the manufacture is, that, in worsted, only the long fibres of the long- woolled varieties are used ; and, after being duly sorted, these are washed, dried, carded, oiled, and otherwise made ready for the combing machine, by which every chance of any short fibres (technically called “noils”) remaining is entirely taken away. Finally, after passing through the drawing frames, the fibre is ready for spinning. The wool-combing machine, the invention of Mr. Lister, and a source of enormous fortune to that family, is one of the most ingenious machines in the textile trade, and has quite superseded the original method of combing by heat, which was usually done with charcoal braziers, and was a most unhealthy Occupation. The spinning department of a worsted factory re- sembles the throstle spinning of the cotton, with a few material differences in detail, one being, that when the full bobbins have to be taken off the spindles by the “doffers,” and replaced by fresh WOOL LENS AND WOR STED. 71 ones, the whole doffing force of the room is concen- trated on the frame, as it is a matter of importance that the frame be not kept out of gear a moment longer than is necessary. But perhaps the alteration of greatest importance in worsted spinning has been the gradual increase in the number of spindles to the frame. In 1833 there were not more than 38 on a side; but additions have been made from time to time, until they reach 80, 90, 100, or more. This was looked upon as a great grievance by many spinners, who con- sidered that more work was thrown on both foot and eye than could be well done. It is true that there are a considerable number of broken threads to piece in worsted spinning, although this very much depends on the degree of fineness of the yarn or the condition of the machinery; but the latter has been in general so vastly improved, that it has dispensed with a good deal of the more laborious portion of the work, while the temperature is almost always pleasant, and the rooms comparatively free from dust. In the weaving department, a worsted weaver never has more than two looms to look after, for the reason that knots or other faults have to be picked out as the yarn is being woven, and the loom, therefore, has frequently to be stopped to allow of this being done. Formerly one loom only was the custom, and the introduction of the second was the cause of much dissatisfaction. Time, however, gradually remedied this, together with the discovery that, as piecework was the fashion, the weaver could earn much higher wages with two instead of one loom. 72 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. I have already alluded to the splendid character of some of the woollen and worsted factories. A notable example is that of Saltaire, about four miles from Bradford, the establishment of Sir Titus Salt, Bart., who introduced into this neighbourhood the employment of alpaca wools. Saltaire is not only an exceptionally large place as regards the factory, but it is more especially noteworthy for the colony of work- people who live around it, and for whose well-being, in every possible way, the utmost pains appear to have been taken by their employers. An infirmary, me- chanics’ institution, almshouses, schools, library, park, and public dining hall, are special features of the little town. The dining hall, which accommodates 800 persons, is a self-supporting institution, the object being to ensure each visitor having a comfortable meal at the lowest possible charges—such as a cup of tea for a halfpenny, a bowl of Soup for a penny, a plate of beef for twopence, &c. With such advantages as these, and with such an open, healthy situation, few factory operatives are better off than those of Saltaire, although perhaps more recent sanitary improvements have been adopted in mills of a later date. The health conditions of the worsted trade may be placed at a rather higher level than those of the woollens, although Messrs. Bridges and Holmes mention,” that the adult women of Bradford, Halifax, and Keighley, have a higher death-rate than the average, which is 866 per 100,000. In these three towns it is respectively 1048, 1135, and 1197 ; and if the latter town continues to * Report on Textile Factories, 1873. WOOL LENS AND WQRSTED. 73 be governed in health matters by the same anti-vacci- nation authorities as have lately figured in so un- enviable a manner, it is hard to say to what point the death-rate may not reach. The weekly earnings of the worsted operatives are as follows:— 1871. 1876. S. d. S. d. S. d. S. d. Wool sorters . . . . . . . 20 6 to 30 0 || 24 0 to 30 0 ,, washers and dyers ... 15 0 , 18 0 | 20 0 , 24 0 Gill tenters (women) is ſº 9 6 , 10 0 || 11 0 , 12 0 Card tenters . . . . . . . 13 0 10 0 , 15 0 Preparers (men) tº ſº tº $. 17 () Drawers (women) . . . . 9 0 , 10 6 || 10 6 s 12 0 Twisters & a * - 10 6 Spinners . . . . . . . . 7 6 , 9 0 || 8 6 9 6 Doffers and jobbers (boys) 8 0 , 9 0 || 9 0 Warpers (women) ... ... 14 0 , 18 0 || 13 0 , 15 0 Reelers ... . . . . . . 10 0 , 12 0 || 10 0 Overlookers . . . . . . . 28 0 , 30 0 || 28 0 , 35 0 Sizers . . . . . . . . . . 16 0 Warp dressers . . . . . . . 21 0 , 26 0 22 0 , 24 0 ,, loomers and twisters 14 0 15 0 , 19 0 Weavers (women), two looms 10 0 , 13 0 || 13 0 , 18 0 Doffers and bobbin setters (half-timers) .. º 1 9, 3 9 3 6 , 4 0 Overlookers . . . . . . . 28 0 , 30 0 || 28 0 The exports of worsted stuffs for the last ten years have been— Year. Quantity. Walue. yards. : f 1866 227,275,414 13,294,059 1867 200,469,996 12,144,998 IS68 224,367,464 13,075,773 1869 250,062,934 15,130,340 1870 235,936,604 | 13,788,798 74 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Year. Quantities. Value. yards. - f | 1871 307,237,042 17,953,209 1872 344,968,689 20,905,163 1873 282,884,692 14,277,382 I874 261,135,081 11,8SS,072 I875 251,845,549 11,159,914 | The manufacture of carpets is in itself an important section of the woollen trade, and employs about : Males. Females. Total. England . . 7,877 3,691 11,568 Scotland . . . . . 2,216 468 2,684 Total .. ... 10,093 4,159 14,252 The ages of the workers show a fair proportion of juvenile labour : j * s===== - mºmº- * * *-ºs--- | Tsiigi Ionicssissilzais 26 98 * sº 639, 269 la 70 28 || 7 The carpet trade is, on the whole, tolerably scattered over the kingdom, though each locality is rather famous for some speciality. For instance, Axminster carpets are principally made, not at Axminster, where their manufacture first commenced, but at Wilton, near Salisbury, where also Brussels carpets are produced. Machine-made carpets, such as “patent Axminsters,” : *s-s-s tº 5– 10- 15– 20– 25— 35— | 45– 55– 65– 75 ; # Females .. Males & & I WOOLLENS AND WORSTED. 75 are chiefly manufactured at Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Dewsbury, while tapestry and velvet piles are to be found at Halifax and Kidderminster, which latter place produces also Brussels carpets, the “Kidderminsters,” as Dr. Dresser tells us, having nearly died out from the town after which they are called. The worsted is usually spun in factories away from the carpet works, though occasionally the spinning and carpet making are combined, so that the manufacturer can produce whatever kind of material he wishes. The actual processes of carpet making differ very much according to the kind, as to whether it may be a Brussels, a Wilton, or a tapestry; but these have been so fully described by Dr. Dresser, that I need only refer my readers to his article on the subject.* The classes of labour in making Wilton or Brussels con- sist, speaking broadly, of the designers, who are highly paid ; the “putters on,” or the men who place the patterns on the “lines”; the “stampers,” or girls who prepare by stamping the cards for the Jacquard loom; and the weavers, who superintend the looms. The difference between a Wilton and a Brussels consists, technically, in this, that the surface of a Brussels is of loops, while in the former the loops are cut, thus giving it a beautiful velvet-pile appearance. In the tapestry process, the operatives consist of the pattern drawers, the wool bleachers, the drum printers, dyers, and steamers, and the weavers, who, for tapestry looms, are mostly women. When females were first employed at Kidderminster for the tapestry weaving, * * British Manufacturing Industries.” 76 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. the weavers (who had previously been always men) were very indignant at the innovation, and gave so much trouble, that the manufacturers (Messrs. Brinton) determined to sever this department of the trade alto- gether from Kidderminster, and, as Heathcote removed his lace factory from Nottingham to Tiverton, they removed their tapestry factory to Leeds, so that the town and district of Kidderminster lost an important addition to its trade. As a rule, carpet factories are on a large scale, and replete with every improvement both in mechanical and sanitary science, so that the operatives have but little to complain of. The wages in 1871 were as follows, for sixty hours a week : S. d. S. d. Dyers (men) . . . . . . . . 16 0 to 18 6 Hand-loom weavers and beamers 20 0 , 25 0 Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . 26 0 , 32 0 Pattern drawers . . . . . . . . . 25 0 Tenters and sewers . . . . . . 22 0 Ditto (women and girls) ... .. 7 0 , 9 9 Croppers, cutters, and cleaners ... 19 0 Ditto (women and girls) ... .. 4 6 5, 9 0 Winders and reelers (women) ... 9 0 Ditto (girls) . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 Power-loom weavers . . . . . . 26 0 Carding and spinning (men) .. 17 6 5, 32 0 Ditto (females) . . . . . . . . 6 6 0 Spinners (females) . . . . . . 9 In 1876, for 564 hours a week, female workers earned from 7s.6d. to 20s. ; boys, 68. to 148. ; Weavers (men), 20s, to 508. WOOD LENS AND WORSTED. 77 The values of carpets and druggets exported in the last ten years were :— #. 3. 1866 ... ... 1,217,682 1871 ... ... 1,648,411 1867 . . ... 1,101,986 1872 ... ... 1,916,774 1868 ... ... 1,099,882 1873 ... ... 1,597,383 1869 ... ... 1,466,758 1874 ... ... 1,480,892 1870 ... ... 1,393,279 1875 ... ... 1,159,979 Our chief customers for worsted stuffs and wool are China, Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, and Holland; for worsted stuffs, mixed with other mate- rials, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Holland; for carpets, America and Australia; for shawls, the United States; for rugs and wrappers, Brazil and Germany. Before quitting the subject of the woollen trade, I must allude to two subsidiary classes of workers: (1) the shoddy workers; (2) warehouse employés. Shoddy, as stated before, is a mixture of any old textile materials, which can be added to the wool, and has given rise to a large and an important trade within the last few years. The contiguous towns of Dewsbury and Batley, in Yorkshire, are the head-quarters of shoddy, where are to be found mills, occupied in nothing else than grinding up and “devilling’ the dubious refuse of all kinds and countries, so as to make it fit for admixture with the decency of unadulterated wool. Old clothes, out of which the last item of wear has been extracted, are sent to the shoddy mill for a final metempsychosis, the principal agent in the change being the “devil,” which tears up everything into 78 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. fine fibres, and makes it tolerably fit for carding. It may be easily imagined what a quantity of dust is produced in this operation, and apparently of a rather offensive description, which is not to be wondered at, when we consider the abominations that have to be operated upon. In fact, such a typical catarrh and irri- tation of the mucous membrane is often brought on, that it is known as the “shoddy fever.” The other class of workers are those in the warehouses of Bradford, who are occupied in “making-up ’’ the goods, as they come from the dyers, and packing them for exportation. This class is principally composed of men and boys, the latter being employed in “rolling” by machinery (generally worked by steam power), measuring and folding, the latter process being also performed by a machine called the “cuttler.” Much occupation is also given in wrapping, ticketing, and Inarking the goods. Where women are employed, it is in sewing cotton cases over the piece goods, an employment known as “tilloting.” This, however, is only neces- sary, when the goods are for the American market. In such a vast trade, a very large number of people find work in these departments, and they may be called, generally speaking, the aristocrats of the textile opera- tives, being, most of them, in receipt of better pay, and occupying a higher stratum in Society. As a rule, the work is not heavy, although, some few years ago (1866), sufficient outcry was made, as to the amount of overtime, to warrant an inquiry being made by the Children's Employment Commissioners. But it was proved that overtime was not ordinarily a point of any WOOLLENS AND WORSTED. 79 importance to the makers-up, for that while the profit of the manufacturer lay in the cost of wages and general production, that of the merchant was on the goods themselves, and not on the labour expended on them. 80 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. CEIAPTER IV. SILK. ALTHOUGH, in point of numbers, the silk trade does not in any way approach that of cotton or woollens, it is One of our very important textiles, employing an army of young people. The figures given by the Census table of 1871 are: Males. Females. Total. England . . . . . . 25,080 51,100 75,180 Scotland . . . . . . 1,276 1,270 2,546 Ireland . . . . . . 465 320 785 Total . . . . . 26,821 52,690 78,511 The ages of the English silk workers were: 5— 10– 15– 20– 25– 35— 45– 55– 65– 75 — — — — — — Males ... 198 |3361 sºlsº 516 Females . . . 262 |7344 sº 460 Amongst the females, a large majority of young chil- dren is shown. The Factory Returns of 1871 do not give by any means such a large number of employés, which will SILA. 81 probably arise from the fact, that a very considerable population is in some parts of the country occupied in what may be called, domestic silk work; at all events, it is not massed together in factory life. No. Of No. Of No. Of No. of No. of F.s. Carding | Combing Spinning | Power | Machines. | Machines. | Spindles. Looms. England .. 694 698 8,219 |929,155 12,135 Scotland .. 4. © tº 1S 11,086 243 employing: Children Males J. Up to 13. up to 18. º 18. Females. Total. England. lºss lºss |20is sºld lºssºs lºan Scotland.. - - tº a 14 136 653 S13 According to Mr. Redgrave's calculations,” there were in the silk trade: 1850. 1861. 1S71. 1875. No. of factories ... .. 227 777. 696 sis , spinning spindles 1,225,5601,338,544. 940,143 1,114,703 ,, power looms .. 3,670, 10,709 12,35S I0,002 2 3 , Weavers e 7,279; 6,334 6,0S0 | showing a great diminution of spinning spindles in proportion to each factory, but a great increase in the * Factory Reports, 1875. 82 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. number of power looms to the weavers occupied upon them. The relative numbers of the workers were: 1850. 1861. Children from 8 to 13 .. 7,151 7,014 6,928 6,871 Males up to 18 & © 3,214 3,224 2,662 2,381 , above 18 7,068 10,162 9,053 8,466 Females above 13 25,111 || 32,029 || 29,481 27,841 by which it would appear, that the numbers employed in the silk trade have been rather declining within the last fifteen years. The localities of the silk trade are very varied. Macclesfield and Congleton, and, in a less degree, Nottingham, Derby, and, to a slight extent, Malmes- bury, and Haverhill in Cambridgeshire, may be con- sidered as the chief centres; while in the Lancashire country districts, such as Middleton and Leigh, there is a good deal of hand-loom weaving for broad silk fabrics. There are also some large silk mills in Man- chester. At Macclesfield, besides the factories for silk throwing, there are workshops where gimp making, winding quills, and weaving are carried on. Teek, in Staffordshire, is chiefly occupied with sewing- silk. Spitalfields, in London, once the chief head- quarters of the silk weaving, was for a long time at a very low ebb in this respect, but has much improved of late years. The manufacture of silk trimmings is carried on there and in Bethnal Green to a very considerable extent. Silk embroidery is rather an important trade in Manchester. STL K. 83 Mr. Cobb, in his interesting article on Silk,” has explained fully how the silk is obtained from the cocoons, and brought over to this country in rough hanks, or “books,” mostly coming from China, Japan, and India, the skeins of which these books are com- posed varying from 60 to 90 inches in length. When in the mills, the first operation is the sorting by girls, who classify the different kinds, and separate them from the waste or rough silk adhering to the skeins, the utilization of which constitutes a separate trade. The sorted skeins are then wound on to bob- bins by women, called “danters,” assisted by little piecers, who have enough to do with the constantly breaking threads. In the cleaning, the threads are wound on to another bobbin, passing through two perfectly Smooth parallel plates, so beautifully set, that the least knot or inequality of thread is detected, and prevented passing. The cleaning frames are usually superintended by young lads. The threads are next doubled, and a twist given by the spinning or “throwing” machine, the frames being usually set rather close together, and each piecer minding about two sides of forty spindles each. The yarn is then wound into a “hank,” according as it is intended for weft or warp, the technical names of which in the trade are respectively “tram ” and “organzine,” more briefly called “organ.” “Tram ” is defined by Mr. Cobb as the union of two or more single threads without twist, doubled in one operation, and afterwards slightly twisted together; and “organ ” as the union of two * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ G 2 84. BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. or more single threads separately twisted in one direc- tion, and then doubled as in tram, and re-twisted in the opposite direction. Having arrived at this stage, the yarn is sent to be boiled and dyed. Up to this point, the yarn is called “hard,” viz. retaining its natural gum ; and the object of the boiling is to get rid of this, previous to dyeing, in which latter operation, it has become the fashion of late years to add some deleterious substance, so as to increase the weight and apparent value. In fact, silk dresses are not what they were. “The black dresses of our grandmothers,” says Mr. Cobb, “were often, after years of wear, handed down to their children and grandchildren. Now that the weighted silks are employed, great com- plaints are made by the ladies that their dresses are worn out so rapidly; but on the other hand, one effect of the weighting is to make the thread of silk cover twice the space it formerly did, and by these means produce a corresponding reduction in the cost of a given length.” The chief point in the manufacture, so far, is the almost exclusive employment of women and children, whose fingers are more facile and deft than those of men. The dyed yarn is then treated like any other fibrous material, and passed through the drawing frame into the weaving department, where the women usually superintend two looms, which run at the average rate of 110 “picks” per minute. In weavings of a complicated pattern, the looms are of the most intricate description, as told us by Mr. Cobb, in his account of the Stevens loom, for making a scarf 24 yards long and 64 inches wide. “This scarfrequired the use of 16,000 SILK. S5 perforated cards to make the figure, and 14,000 for the plain part, making a total of 30,000 cards. The number of threads in the warps of each scarf was 1800, and there were fifteen different colours in the shoots : these figures are multiplied by the number of pieces being made at once, so that with ten pieces making, 18,000 threads of warp would be in the loom. It requires six months to fit up such a loom, and when it and all the cards are ready, it occupies a month to obtain one complete pattern. The cost of the loom, with design and cards complete, is about 500l.” The spinning of the waste silk, a trade of compara- tively recent Origin, is not so pleasant an one as that of the silk itself, as in dressing the mass of long inter- twisted fibres, a great deal of dust is given off. After the dressing, it is passed through the drawing machine, and then spun, the temperature being kept tolerably low, as the fibres become electric if too high a heat be used. The dressing stage is said to cause bronchial and lung affections, but otherwise the silk manufacture is a fairly healthy one. The Registrar-General’s table for 1871 of deaths of males was : Toºl. 5– | 10- 15— 20– 25— 35– 45— | 55— 65– 411 |- 15 | 10 || 35 wº 91 | 92 and it is evident from the table at p. 27, that it is superior to both the cotton and woollen trades in sani- tary matters. The condition of the young who work in the Lancashire country districts is open to some 86 JBRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. doubt, as a great deal of the weaving is carried on in the workmen's houses: “and in such places the evils of a domestic industry are enhanced by those attendant on the system of middlemen.” In the early factory days, the children employed in silk mills were in some respects worse off than even the cotton or woollen spinners, for each little worker was made responsible for any mistake or waste caused, whereas, in the other factories, the responsibility lay with the spinner. The hours, too, were excessively long, and the arrangements of the mills very bad. One witness before the Factory Commission of 1833 stated, that silk-mill children were a pale and ghastly set, and declared that few of them had any sweetness or childish ring in their voices, but that they spoke with a hoarse and guttural sound. As a matter of fact, in the present day, affecting the young in silk throwing, the occupation is not only lighter than in other textiles, but the speed of the machinery has been absolutely lessened of late years, instead of being increased, arising from the bad or inferior reeling of the material in China, and there is consequently less stress upon the hands. The manufacture of silk thread is principally carried on at Leek, a pretty North Staffordshire semi-factory town of some 15,000 inhabitants. The females are almost entirely occupied in winding, and the boys in helping the twisters, a good proportion of both these employments being performed at home, by a wheel or “gate,” to which the threads to be twisted are attached by means of hooks at the circumference; and the work of the boy is to run to and fro from one end of the SILK. 87 “shade” or shed, carrying the bobbins on which the thread is wound, up to the wheel at the other end. The old Huguenot silk trade of East London has revived somewhat of late years, though it is princi- pally carried on in the production of rich furniture silks, both on the factory and domestic systems. Velvets, too, are woven in Spitalfields and Bethnal Green. Hand-weaving velvet is but slow work, a man seldom being able to weave more than a yard a day, as he has to stop at the end of every shoot to cut the threads. The silk weavers of London have ever been a skilful, industrious, and steady race, noted for their promptness in their work, and their honesty, fabrics of a very valuable nature being often entrusted to their care by the employers. The making of silk trimmings, tassels, &c., gives Occupation to a great number of young people, princi- pally girls, in the same neighbourhood. The boys work at turning wheels for machines, or twisting chenille; the girls, at the machines, threading beads, arranging tassels, braid, or buttons. The “covering” machine is a very ingenious contrivance, by means of which the threads from a number of revolving reels, set upright on a flat surface, are made to converge to a central point, and wrap little wooden moulds or buttons which are continuously supplied by one hand of the operator, while the other turns the wheel. When the workrooms are airy, light, and well venti- lated, the conditions of labour are favourable; but there is a good deal of “garret.” work, where the sur- roundings are eminently unsanitary. Bending the 88 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRYES. wire on which the beads are strung, is said to make the fingers of the young operatives sore, as is the case also in artificial flower making (p. 155). The present average earnings of silk workers are, in the raw silk throwing, for the Macclesfield district: Process pº. or Ages Sex Range of Average * M - : fiecework. S-> * - Wages. Wages. 3. s. S. d. 1. Splitters ... Both Adult Women 11 to 13 | 12 0 e Principally 13 and & s) WV * . 2. Windel's ..! Wage. **) Both 6 , 10 || 8 6 3. Cleaners .. 32 • > 6 , 10 || 8 6 4. Re-cleaners 92 Adult Female 9 , 11 || 10 0 5. Doublers .. 22 25 32 9 , 11 || 10 0 6. Knotters and Drummers } Wage 55 52 10 , 11 || 10 6 7. Spinners .. 92 13 to 16 || Boys 9 9 () S. Mill-men .. 22 Adult Males 18 1S () 9. Stewards 22 22 22 20 , 22 21 0 10. Staff-men .. Both 22 22 20 , 30 24 0 The Macclesfield district varies a little from that of Derby and Nottingham in its range of wages, while the manipulation of the silk is also different in its various processes. At Macclesfield, the winding is a process by itself, and is the starting point for all learners, under the supervision of skilled women, who do all the wasteing. The silk is then cleaned and recleaned as a separate process, the latter being done by the most experienced and intelligent part of the operatives, on account of sizeing and the elimination of inferior quality, thus obtaining the best results for cleanness and evenness, and enabling the after pro- SIL IV. 89 cesses to be better performed, with a minimum of waste. In the Nottingham and Derby districts (with few exceptions), as also in the South-eastern counties, the winding and cleaning are done at one process, and the silk is then drawn from one bobbin to another by learners, who are the youngest of the employés, at wages from 38. to 58., preparatory to spinning or doubling. Then, again, in the Cheshire district, the silk is put in skeins as it is thrown, so as to produce a greater uniformity of twist, whereas at Nottingham and Derby it is reeled in hanks, as a separate process, from the throwing bobbins. In some of the latter mills, women are employed in the spinning and throw- ing, in consequence of repeated demands for higher wages from the mill men and their union. Comparative cost of production (on labour only) per 1b. Tsatlu silk, ordinary and fair quality, in the two districts: Macclesfield, &c. Derby, &c. S. d. S. d. S. d. S. d. Washing and parting 0 2 0 2 Winding .. 0 10 and 1 0 | I 5 and I s Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . 0 8 , 0 10 Re-cleaning and drawing 0 4 ,, 0 6 0 2 , 0 3 Doubling .. 0 1 , 0 13 0 2 s, 0 3 Spinning . . . . . 0 13. , 0 2 1 0 5 , 0 7 Throwing . . . . . . . . 0 2%. , 0 3%. 0 3 s, 0 6 Reeling, knotting, and frumming e. º 0 14 ,, 0 2 || 0 2 Making up 0 I 0 1 Total .. 2 7; and 3 | * * * * * S 90 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. As compared with 1871, the average would be : Men, throwing and º ning * - © - e º e is Boys, spinning . . . . . . , re-drawing or clean- ing . . . . Doublers and danters Winders (women) , (girls) Drawers (children) .. Reelers • * ~ * Overlookers .. 1871 1876. S. d. S. d. S. d. S. d. 16 0 to 17 O 19 0 to 20 0 10 0 12 0 tº º S 6 7 6 , 10 6 II 3 9 0 , II 0 | 10 9 • ſº 9 6 2 6 , 4 0 8 0 , 9 0 | 11 9 20 0 , 28 0 || 23 0 The earnings in the silk full time of 10 hours, are: waste trade, based on Silk boilers ,, dressers tº º ,, preparers (girls) , Spinners 33 ,, doublers , ,, reelers 35 Engineers .. Warpers . . . . . . Children (half-timers) 1871. | 1876 S. d. S d. S. d. S d. I8 0 20 0 26 () 30 0 9 0 10 0 9 0 II () 9 0 10 6 9 0 to 10 0 | 12 0 I8 0 26 0 24 0 I0 6 2 6 2 6 to 3 0 The commercial statistics of the silk trade are as follows: SILIC. 91 IMPORTS. Quantities. Silk Knubs, Year. or Hanks and Raw Silk. Thrown Silk. Waste. CW tS. lbs. lbs. IS66 25,417 5,453,804 66,850 1S67 23,031 5,849,648 196,188 1868 30,050 7,036,177 || 326,574 ISG9 29,198 5,573,366 259,509 1870 31,360 6,307,575 283,723 1871 38,984 8,253,335 177,386 IS72 33,866 7,302,083 63,001 1873 31,815 6,445,213 108,794 1874. 35,141 5,911,831 114,601 1875 33,787 4,487,837 110,010 |Value. f :É. fº 1866 443,736 7,243,199 138,333 1867 375,733 7,556,462 439,967 1868 493,984 8,741,045 881,522 1869 519,033 6,812,831 614,603 I870 491,605 8,204,993 599,651 1871 624,945 8,921,589 232,752 1872 608,912 7,825,180 94,502 1873 460,128 6,758,138 195,025 I874. 466,283 4,966,325 148,851 1875 415,085 3,443,722 || 102,734 the silk knubs coming principally from China, France, and Bengal; raw silk, from China, France, Bengal, Japan, and Italy; thrown silk, from Belgium and 92 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. France. The value of the importations of silk manu- factures was : Year. Broad Stuffs. Ribbons. Other Kinds. f -É #. 1866 6,226,954 2,206,405 S79,259 1867 5,443,113 2,610,987 930,374 IS6S 6,508,472 3,101,336 1,185,644 1869 7,609,479 3,166,594 I,018,687 1S70 10,357,666 3,721,855 I,018,806 1871 4,137,907 1,898,5SS 2,159,230 IS72 4,916,084 1,853,915 2,371,864 1873 5,444,289 2,321,914 2,009,286 1874. 7,336,356 2,516,223 1,889,487 1875 8,155,120 2,143,786 1,719,426 The chief supplies of broadstuffs (silk and satin) are from France and Belgium ; velvets from Belgium ; ribbons and silk plush from France. ExPORTS OF BROAD PIECE GOODS. Year. Quantity. Value. yards. £ 1866 3,067,065 60S,688 1867 2,376,638 486,388 I S6S 2,926,171 569,055 1869 2,900,455 565,502 IS70 3,854,028 740,212 1871 5,160,337 856,401 IS72 4,417,240 696,373 IS73 2,983,712 528,266 1874 4,025,459 675,927 1875 3.654,660 562,936 chiefly to France, Brazil, and Australia. The following statement, made by Mr. Brocklehurst, SILA. 93 M.P.,” is of considerable importance to the silk trade : “We have to compete with Italy, where they employ their hands 70 hours per week against our 56%, and pay one half the wages that we now pay; i.e. where they pay for the 70 hours 9d. per day, we are paying 1s. 6d. and 1s. 9d., and where their short timers would be at work, they pay 4d. where we pay 6d. In Italy, they have now the throwing of the Asiatic silk, which has not been the case heretofore, and for this purpose silk is being imported to Marseilles instead of to London, and will be thrown in Italy for the French, instead of in England.” As with the cotton, flax, and woollens, so it is with the silk, that foreign competition is pressing England hard. * Factory and Workshops Acts Commission, 1875. ( 94 ) CEIAPTER W. LACE AND HOSIERY. THE lace trade differs in many important details from those of other textiles, and in itself combines so many different occupations, that it may be divided generally into three heads, viz.: 1. Lace making on the machine. 2. Lace finishing. 3. Pillow-lace making. These three classes, although all resulting in the same material, are in reality distinct trades. 1. Tace making is essentially a factory trade, and is carried on almost entirely at Nottingham and the surrounding district. The owners of factories, where the lace is produced by the machines, are termed, in Nottingham parlance, lace makers. After it is made, it is turned over to (2) the finishers, who are styled “manufacturers,” and who carry on their work in “warehouses.” This latter building, therefore, is not a storehouse for goods, but a place where the finishing processes are performed. Some- times even these processes, such as the lace dressing, are done in separate and distinct establishments. DACE AND HOSIER Y. 95 3. Hand or pillow lace making is an entirely dif- ferent trade, carried on under different circumstances by a special class of operatives, the chief localities being country villages and towns, such as those of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Devonshire; while in Ireland, Limerick and Donaghadee are the principal centres of occupation. The Census tables give the number of lace workers as follows: Males. Females. Total. England . . . . 8,569 40,801 49,370 Ireland 6 * g tº 37 750 7S7 but as regards the latter country, a good many of the embroiderers, who are placed at 4915, might properly be placed with lace workers. Of the females, who constitute by very far the largest proportion of lace workers, Bedfordshire absorbed 6051, Bucks 8077, Oxfordshire 1007, Devonshire 4342, while the re- mainder were found in Nottinghamshire. The ages of the female workers show a great pro- portion of juvenile labour: 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 626 5240 6027 4931 | 7314 || 5595 www. 2106 | 688 The Factory Returns of 1874 give the total number 96 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. of lace factories in England at 311 (in 1871, 223, wit 2948 lace machines), employing Male. Female. Children under 13 .. 312 393 Males up to 18 ... .. I314 , above 18 . . . . 5119 & º i Females above 13 .. tº º 3035 The late Mr. Felkin, in his article upon Lace º (writing in 1873), says “that in 1843 there were 3200 twist met, and 800 warp frames, returning 2,740,000l. for that year; in 1851, 3200 bobbin net and 400 warp, giving a return of 3,846,000l. ; and in 1866, 3552 bobbin and 400 warp, returning 5,130,000l. The returns of 1872 were certainly 6,000,000l. at least, and, from advancing wages, must still rapidly increase. Men are now earning from 4!. to 6l. for 56 hours' weekly labour.” At the present time it is almost impossible to obtain statistics as to the number of machines employed, for the trade is one of so many ramifications. It may roughly be divided into three sections: (a) the levers, or fancy branch; (b) the curtain; and (c) the plain net; and in all of these the work is done by the piece, or, to use a technical term, by the “rack.” When trade is good, large wages are earned by the twist- hand or lace makers, whilst, when times are bad, as at the present, wages may even rule as low as 108, a week. Some four or five years ago, men engaged on * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ LACE AND HOSIERY. 97 the “levers” made on an average of twelve months, 4l. per week. In addition to the lace makers, the divisions of labour include engineers, Warpers, winders, menders, drawers, designers, draughtsmen; and in the finishing department, dressers, bleachers, dyers, &c. The lace making itself is carried on altogether by men, who work the machines, women being only em- ployed in reeling cotton for them, and boys, in filling the bobbins with thread, &c. The machines are con- stantly in operation between 4 A.M. and 12 P.M., not, of course, worked by one man, but by relays of two, who divide the labour between them, as also the pay, which is usually by the piece. Where the crowded Nottingham working life is best seen, is in the ware- houses, “finishing” the lace, and here we find the pro- cesses to be “dressing,” mending, clipping, scolloping, “grafting,” or piecing on borders, some of these being done by machinery, others by hand. The dressing rooms are of great length, varying from 200 to 400 feet. When the lace is returned from the bleach or the dye works, it is sent in here to be dressed, i. e. stiffened with some starchy mixture, and then stretched out on long frames, and dried gently at a very high temperature. Sometimes the lace is dipped into the “dress,” in which case the superfluous matter is pressed out by rollers ; at other times the lace is fastened or “straightened ’’ on a frame by hooks, and the dress is put on at the edges, and spread over the surface with brushes. The girls who do this are called “wetters”—and as the lace dries, it shrinks or H 98 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. stretches, according as it is silk or cotton, and neces- sitates the adjustment of the frame to suit the case, a light work which young children can undertake. The time occupied in the drying depends very much upon the kind of material, the size of the piece, the con- dition of the atmosphere, &c.; some only requiring a few minutes, others one hour and a half. In a “piece” of lace, there are perhaps fifty strips or breadths made together, and connected by lacing threads, and if some of the threads composing the pattern are not required for the other portion, they are carried on loose until they are required; the removal of these loose threads is called, clipping and trimming. From the peculiarity of the drying, in the dressing process, and the impos- sibility of leaving it until it is finished, a special per- mission is given by the Act of 1870 to vary the meal times; indeed, the time and habits of the workers in the warehouses are very different to those of Ordinary factory hands. They never begin in the morning till eight o'clock, having had their breakfast before coming ; they then work till one, when there is an interval of a quarter of an hour for lunch. With the exception of lace dressing, the finishing is really more like millinery, and would be very easy employment, were it not for the heated rooms and the bad ventilation. In the case of the dressing rooms, the temperature is high, from 80° to 90°, and the air generally stagnant; but they are not so bad as they were at the time of the Children's Employment Commission in 1862, when they were notorious for the ill health that they caused. Mr. White stated in his Report, that “the people employed in these rooms have almost invariably a LACE AND HOSIER Y. 99 pale and bloodless face and skin; and many of them in constant perspiration, or in the language of one girl, “sweat awful’; become languid and emaciated, fainting being very usual ; suffer much from exposure to cold air when not at work, and especially on leaving, consumption from this cause being said to be common amongst them.” All these unfavourable con- ditions were aggravated in rooms where “gauffring” by means of gas stoves was carried on, for the purpose of bonnet front making. These facts were corroborated by the evidence of a Nottingham surgeon, who stated that the proportion of consumptive patients visited by him was In 1852 . . . . 1 in 45 | In 1859 . . . . 1 in 9 ,, 1854 . . . . 1 , 17 ,, 1860 . . . . 1 , 8 ,, 1858 ... ... 1 , 15 ,, 1861 ... ... 1 , 8 Lace mending and trimming have a special tendency to affect the eyes, for which many women and girls are obliged to wear glasses, some complaining of the diffi- culty of seeing the work when black, and others, of the white dazzling them. This arises from over-exertion of the eyes, and the constant strain upon the muscle, by which the eye accommodates itself to the distance of the object. Working by gaslight and in impure air are of course powerful agents in increasing this defect. Partly from the enervated and unnatural conditions of life to which the workers were subjected, and partly from the very late hours which prevailed, previous to the Legislature taking in hand the warehouses, the lace workers of Nottingham did not at one time enjoy the best of characters for morality; but the improve- ments in these matters and the spread of education H 2 *e ; : . * ... • : : : : : 100 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. : Ž o . : have done very much to rescue the town from this stigma, and except for a tendency to early and im- provident marriages, Nottingham is other factory towns. The present workers (1876) are as follows: RATES OF WAGES. on a par with wages of lace Levers or Fancy Lace: # S. d. £ S. d. Lace makers, range from .. 1 10 0 to 5 0 0 Winders, set wages about .. 0 11 0 per week. Menders }} 0 1 1 0 }} Threaders, range from 0 6 0 to 0 10 0 Warpers }} ... ... 1 10 0 , 2 0 0 Designers and * 3 0 0 , 8 0 0 set Wages from .. Curtain: Makers, range from 1 10 0 , 4 0 0 For cotton, average about .. 1 5 0 , 2 0 0 , Silk 55 I 10 0 , 2 5 0 Winders (silk), from 0 10 0 , 0 15 0 , (cotton), from 0 8 0 , 0 12 0 Menders 25 0 8 0 , 0 16 0 Threaders (cotton), from 0 6 0 , 0 10 0 35 (silk) 25 0 12 0 , 0 16 0 Warpers 32 1 10 0 , 2 0 0 Designers . 2 3 3 0 0 , 7 0 0 Draughtsmen 35 ... .. 2 0 0 , 5 0 0 Plain Net : Makers (cotton) 25 ... ... 1 0 0 , 2 0 0 , (silk) 2 3 e 1 10 0 , 2 5 0 Winders, wrappers, &c., little less than the curtain. No designers or draughtsmen employed. Engineers: Generally from 25s, to 35s, or 40s. per week. Bleachers: Men, for 60 hours per week, from 50s. to 60s. Average about 33s. Boys from 16 to 18 years of age, 12s. to 15s. per week. Girls , 12 to 16 33 : : . . : : 6s. 6d. to 10s. , LACE AND HOSIERY. 101 Dressers: Same as above, except that in Some cases men are paid from 2s. 9d. to 3s. 3d. per 100 lb. weight of lace. Women from 2d. to 3d. per hour, 55 hours per week. In 1875 we imported lace of the following values: Pillow lace from Belgium, 136,055l. ; machine lace, principally from France, 268,088l. ; and we exported of cotton lace and patent net, a total of 1,133,093!., and of silk lace 137,516l., the chief portion of which was to America, Germany, and France. Machinery during the last ten or fifteen years has materially increased, and particularly in the curtain branch, which was formerly in the hands of four or five large manufac- turers. At the present time machines are actually exported to France, and compete sharply with the Nottingham trade. The numbers engaged in pillow lace making, as in the counties of Devon, Bucks, Beds, and Oxford; and of guipure work, as at Limerick, are of sufficient im- portance to justify a brief description, although the trade is but a domestic One, and only to a limited extent comes under the Factory and Workshops Acts. Honiton lace, so dear to ladies, is usually made in separate pieces or “sprigs,” which are afterwards joined together, either on the pillow by other lace work, or with the needle. In the home counties, the lace is made in the workers' cottages, and by them disposed of to a few small shopkeepers in the villages, who act as middlemen to merchants or manufacturers in the larger towns. These latter send round agents, or travel themselves round the district, collecting 102 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. and buying up the lace from the middlemen. The system, like all such, whatever may be the trade, is a bad one; for the workers are utterly in the hands of the shopkeepers, usually a grasping race, who not only pay the lowest possible price, but frequently insist on the value being taken out in inferior and expensive goods. The lace makers are thus not only defrauded, but habits of dependence and improvidence are laid in early youth, which are not easily shaken off afterwards. A curious feature in pillow lace making localities, and particularly in those of Devonshire, is that of lace schools, where a lace mistress collects a lot of workers, commencing with very young children. The Devonshire district may be described roughly as bounded on the east and west by the Axe and the Exe, on the north by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, and on the south by the sea. It contains between 60 and 70 lace schools, with about 226 female workers above thirteen, and 344 under thirteen.” Previous to the most recent legislation on the subject of employment of the young, six years old was a common age at which this education began, and it will be scarcely believed that (as told us by Mr. White in his Reportf), four or five, and in some cases even earlier, was stated to have been the age at which the baby first underwent training. The children are sent to school to be taught this (as in the straw plait districts) at a small charge of a few pence per week; and after they become proficient, they either make for themselves, or are paid by the mistress so much for their lace. Those, * Factory and Workshops Act Commission, 1875. + Children's Employment Commission, 1st Report, 1862. LACE AND HOSIERY. 103 however, who are not apprenticed, pay 18, per week for the first three months, and 6d. for the second three, the mothers having the children’s work. The evils of the occupation are, the ill-ventilated rooms in which these little ones are crowded together, and the long periods of work through which they are ex- pected to sit quiet and learn their business, though it must be stated that, in both these matters, things are now greatly improved. The older ones seldom work separately, but are fond of congregating together for the sake of warmth, company, and after dark, for light, which is generally increased as much as possible by placing the candle behind a bottle full of water. As a consequence of their continuous employment, the operatives are usually pale and weak, and the eyes are very commonly affected. The following account of pillow lace making, as given by Mr. Whymper to the Factory and Workshops Acts Commission, is so interesting that I reproduce it here : The worker holds the pillow on her lap, having fastened upon it a paper, or parchment, with the pattern traced and pricked in pin holes. Close by her she has a number of pairs of lace sticks, each some four inches long, and connected with its fellow by a thread, which, at either end, is partly wound round the top of the stick. Sticking successive pins upright in the holes, and hanging the threads round each one as soon as it is set up, she begins to intertwist and cross the threads by passing the little sticks over and under each other, as they hang down loose on the surface of the cushion. When all the holes have been filled with pins, and all the threads intertwisted, the 104 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. result is the “sprig”; and to connect the parts of the latter, a stitch is taken up through one of the pin holes with what is called a “needle pin.” Through the loop thus made one of the lace sticks is passed, and the thread on it is knotted with one of its fellows. When the sprigs are all ready, they are made up by fixing them collectively on the pillow, and connecting them by means of threads and lace sticks. There is another kind of lace produced in the Devonshire district, called Tunis lace, which is not so difficult, and is made up with machine-made edging or braid. Lace makers are usually good reckoners, from the habit of counting their pins, which they do to see how much work they can do in an hour, or who can work the fastest. They reckon by the number of pins in a head of lace, i.e. in a length forming a complete pattern; after which the pattern is repeated in a fresh head. A quick girl of thirteen, in some patterns, can stick up six hundred pins in an hour, but they are set a little under what they can do at the full stretch, or they would get behind in case of any accidental stoppage. The rapidity with which pillow lace makers do their work is bewildering to the uninitiated, and Mr. Whymper tells an amusing story of a beggar who attracted the passers by from her quick and skilful manipulation with the lace sticks, but who, in reality, was in complete ignorance of how to use them. The lace making at Limerick and the lace embroidering at Donaghadee present very much the same conditions as the work in England. LACE AND HOSIER Y. 105 HosſERY. The hosiery workers of England amounted, according to the Census tables, to males, 22,367; females, 19,671 ; total, 40,038, and of the following ages: 5— 10– 15– 35– 45– 55- 65- 75 ! | 20– 25– | | — — Males .. 55 Pºlº 1724. 793 Females ... 140 * 4095'450 | | by which it will be seen that, in both males and females, but particularly the latter, a large portion of the corps d'armée consists of children. Like the lace trade, that of hosiery is very much localized, indeed, even more so than lace ; for though a large country district finds employment in hosiery, it is a compact one, and is found entirely in the counties of Nottingham, Leicester, and Derby. The towns, such as Nottingham, Leicester, Hinckley, Lough- borough, &c., contain, for the most part, the factory power and factory workers, while the domestic in- dustry is scattered throughout the villages. Each year, however, sees the latter declining, and the trade aggregated more and more into the factories, and were it not for certain reasons which I shall presently state, this would have been the case to a still greater extent. The localization of the trade may be said to be subdivided in the various districts; for instance, the country round Nottingham is more or less occu- pied with the cotton, merino, cashmere, and silk branches of the trade, while Leicester busies itself 106 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. more with woollen hosiery, Hinckley with coarse cotton, and some of the villages, such as Bulwell and Arnold, were formerly almost exclusively employed in glove making. Now, however, the use of kid has nearly superseded knitted gloves, and Evesham, Wor- cester, and Yeovil have the best part of this article of dress to themselves. * Hosiery embraces a vast number of items, such as socks, underclothing, drawers, jackets, and comforters, and it is said that upwards of 5000 different articles come under the head of fancy goods. As in Notting- ham, the material is woven on the frame by men, while boys wind the bobbins. The warehouse is the resort of the majority of the young, and especially the females, who are employed in mending, Sewing, sorting, stamping, folding, trimming, turning hose, and various other work of this kind, while a vast amount of labour is carried on at home, both at the frame by the men, and in “seaming,” stitching, and hemming by the women and girls. Probably the most peculiar feature of the trade, as opposed to other trades, is the sub-letting of the frames for a weekly rent. The middlemen, until of late years, had it all their own way in the hosiery districts, and were a considerable power in the state. Not only did, and still do, many small hosiery masters let out frames to the men, but they also let out standing room in their houses, so that the operative had to pay rent both for room and machine. Then, again, many of the factory owners, also, were proprietors of these country frames; and, lastly, the middlemen, or “bagmen,” finding it a profitable trade to become a frame owner, LA CE AND HOSIERY. 107 stepped in and often made large sums out of the rent, combined with the purchase of the work from the tenant. “There are two chief reasons which tend to keep up the hand-frame work; one is, the difficulty of doing certain things by machinery, or doing them equally well; the other, the great cost of new factory frames, which may be from 70l. to 120l., the hand frames costing from 10l. to 201, coupled with the fact that the manufacturers, having property in the existing hand frames, do not like to throw them aside as useless, and to incur the cost of providing the larger and more expensive factory frames. But as the old hand frames wear out, they are never replaced, and are not likely to be.”" This statement, which was made in 1862, has been considerably verified of late years, and the hand-frame trade has, to a great extent, succumbed to its powerful rival, machinery, although there is still a large population engaged in it. The greatest blow that was ever dealt to this system was the Hosiery Manufacture and Wages Act (37 & 38 Vic. cap. 48), which forbids employers in that trade to let out knitting frames and machinery to their workpeople, deducting the rent from the price of the work. All work since that date has to be paid for met without any deductions, except for bad workmanship. At the period when the Children's Employment Com- mission was held, the occupation of very young chil- dren in “seaming,” or joining the separate parts of the articles, such as the finger of a glove or the foot of a stocking, was carried to an enormous and very inhuman extent, the little ones commencing their * Children's Employment Commission, 1st Report. 108 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. labours at 8%, 4, and 5 years, while one was stated to have begun work at 2 years of age The hours, too, were terribly long, especially at the close of the week, after the “shacking,” or the keeping of St. Monday, had involved the household in idleness for the first two or three days. It was a common thing for the workers, including young children of 10 and 11, to sit up till midnight, and even all night in times of pressure. Besides the young boys who wind, the older ones learn to work at the frames, as soon as they are high enough to stand up to them. There is one more branch of the hosiery trade to which I must allude, viz. the elastic web manufacture, in which indiarubber is combined with textile fabrics, as in braces, bands, sides for boots, &c., and which has considerably increased of late years. The Factory Returns of 1874 give 90 factories as engaged in this trade, with 43,287 spindles and 2662 power looms, employing 45 children under 13 years, 661 males up to 18, 2453 above 18, and 2165 females: total 5324. Leicester was the head-quarters of this trade, but within the last few years, Coventry has gained a repu- tation for making a better web, and the manufacture has rather migrated to that town. It appears to be more of a factory trade in reality than that of hosiery. The average earnings of hosiery operatives are not easy to define, owing to the peculiarities of the trade. They may be divided into (1) The wrought branch articles, or “one at once,” begun and finished on the same machine. At this work, which is domestic, men earn (1876) 18s, to 20s. weekly; women and adults I, ACE AND HOSIERY. 109 from 8s. to 14s. There is no control or supervision over the workers, so that this is no criterion as to what they could earn under factory conditions. (2) Work made on the “three-frame branch,” or divisional system, such as stockings, when one person makes the upper part on One frame, another the ankle and heel on a second, while a third produces the foot. The opera- tives, mostly men and boys, earn from 20s. to 30s. (3) The factory branch, where, from improved machinery and a greater demand for the articles, men earn 30s. to 50s. ; women, 128. ; youths, 88. to 16s. ; girls, 68. to 12s. These statistics apply, however, rather to the Nottingham than the Leicester districts. I have now briefly to notice some statistics of the hosiery trade. The exports of stockings and socks for 1875 were : Dozen Pairs. Value. f United States . . . . . . 296,428 113,106 ,, Pacific . . . . . . 10,763 4,899 Chili . . . . . . . . . . 27,205 4,760 Brazil . . . . . . . . . . 48,455 14,576 Argentine . . . . . . . . 61,865 11,786 South Africa * † tº º º º 39,758 13,568 Bombay g & & 2 g º & ºt 23,263 7,545 Bengal . . . . . . . . . . 27,167 7,029 Australia. . . . . . . . . 453,135 156,775 North America. 19,085 6,055 West Indies .. 23,820 7,072 Other countries 85,044 31,050 Total 1,124,988 378,221 in addition to hosiery of other kinds to 618,290l. the value of ( 110 ) CEIAPTER WI. MINOR TEXTILES. WE have now examined into the bulk of the factory operatives, and there only remain a few minor and subsidiary trades, which, though comparatively un- known, are yet of considerable importance in them- selves. I. FUSTIAN CUTTING. Probably many of my readers have but a vague notion that such a trade exists, and still less that a population of from 7000 to 8000 gain their livelihood by it. In the Census tables we find the entry of “fustian manufacture,” the workpeople in greater part of which are probably engaged in fustian cutting. “Although the word fustian is properly used to desig- nate one particular fabric, in the term fustian cutting, it is generally taken to include all other products of the loom, whether of silk or cotton, such as vel- veteens, velvets, and ‘cords,’ the pile of which is raised by cutting the weft threads of the woven cloth.” The numbers, according to the Census, were these : 5– e-le- 20– *-la- 45– sºlº- 75 Total. Males 3193 || 6 || 130 439|445|827| 608 |443 |222 84 || 10 Females .. 4179 3 556 |1121 765 900 || 420 | 279 * 40 | 11 FUSTIAN CUTTING. 111 The Factory Returns give as follows: No of Children Males - tal Factories. up to 13. up to 18. Above 18. Females. | Total. England 305 79 489 1256 2904 || 4728 Ireland 18 2 30 369 - tº 401 the discrepancy between the two tables arising from the fact of fustian cutting employing a good deal of domestic labour. The trade is very much localized, being limited in England to Manchester, Warrington, Lymm in Cheshire, and the adjoining villages. It is a shifting kind of business, which may easily be taken up or thrown aside, as often happens, by unemployed mill hands. The routine of the trade is curiously seen in Mr. Lord's Report on this branch.” “The cloth, after it is taken from the loom, and before it is sent to the cutter, undergoes a preliminary process called “stiffen- ing, the object being to strengthen the back of the material by means of flour paste, or some such appli- cation, so as to afford resistance to the pressure of the cutting knife. This is rarely, if ever, done at the place where the cloth is made, but generally at a separate establishment; and the “cutting, moreover, is invariably conducted by persons having no connection with the manufacture. Though a cutter will fre- quently speak of the person who supplies him with his work as the manufacturer, he is, in fact, the merchant, agent, or warehouseman, who gives the order to the manufacturer in the first instance, receives from him * Children's Employment Commission, 1st Report, 1862. : •. • : 112 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. the cloth when woven, parts with it again to be stiffened by the ‘percher’ and stiffener, and a second time to be cut by the cutter, receiving it back from him, and sending it to another independent person, the dyer or finisher, for cleaning and the subsequent pro- cesses which are needed, according as the order is for stock or for sale.” It will thus be seen through how many processes and stages a piece of cloth has to travel, even after it has left the factory. Fustian cutting is one of the few branches of textile work that is mostly done by hand. The modus operandi is as follows: the cloth is first brushed over with lime-wash, to free it from grease and make the threads crisp, and it is then placed on a roller frame and carded by a small hand- card. A great deal of dust is given off at this stage, which is an unhealthy one, owing to the close proximity of the cloth and the dust to the operator. The cutting knife is an exceedingly thin, sharp, flexible blade, guarded by a metal sheath or guide, which projects beyond the point. This knife the cutter holds in his right hand, and pushes it rapidly along the warp to the farthest roller, severing the weft threads as he does so. The motion required for this operation is a most pecu- liar one, the body being thrown forward with an incli- nation to the right, and the left shoulder being brought up and round. With a grown-up person this does not cause any mischief, but with a young growing child, as until within the last few years was always the case, the practice of cutting soon caused a distortive twisting of the right knee, together with a high left shoulder. This tendency, as well as the bronchial affections induced by the dust, and the frequent smell of the lime-washed STRA W PLAIT. 113 cloth, makes fustian cutting anything but a pleasant occupation. At the time that the Children's Employ- ment Commission was held, fustian cutters were, per- haps, as low in the social scale as any class of opera- tives, and they were as bad in the country districts, such as Lymm, as in the crowded towns. Excessively long hours, irregularity of habits, improvidence, drunk- enness and immorality in both sexes, were too commonly the rule and not the exception ; added to which, the wages were always low and very fluctuating. By the Factory Act of 1864, a special clause was made for the benefit of the children of fustian cutters, who were prohibited being employed under 11 years of age. As in the hosiery hand-frame districts, play for the first half of the week was succeeded by undue pressure towards the end, a system producing the worst conse- quences both to young and old. The work is always by the piece, and the earnings in 1862 were: From Velvets . . . . . . 6s. to 8s. the piece. # Velveteens ... .. 8s. , 10s. 33 # 32 ... ... 11s. , 15s. 55 and in 1871 : Men . . . . . . ... 10s. to 20s. per week. Women . . . . . . 68. , 12s. 25 Children . . . . . . 4s. , 8s. 35 II. STRAW PLAIT. Like the pillow lace, straw plait making is essen- tially a domestic employment, differing from the former, however, in this respect, that after its forma- tion, it passes into a quasi-factory life, where the manufactured plait takes a coherent shape, and is I 114 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. made up into articles of dress in the shape of bonnets and hats, &c. The plait trade is much more localized than that of lace; for, though it is carried on to a small extent in London, the chief districts are the home counties of Bedford, Herts, Bucks, and Essex, having for their industrial centres the towns of Luton, Dunstable, Hitchin, and St. Albans. The total number engaged in the trade in 1871 was— Total. 5– | 10- 15— 20– 25— 35— 45— 55— 65— | 75 Males 3,593 Females |45,270 462 549, 381 381 102. 527 357 156 63. 15 ***** 6,406|4,736 * 1,597 442 but it is evident that in this large estimate are in- cluded those who make up the plait, in point of fact, the bonnet and hat makers, who constitute a large proportion of the towns just mentioned. Of these numbers, Hertfordshire contains 12,089; Buck- inghamshire, 3412; Essex, 2839; and Bedfordshire, 20,701. Straw plait is essentially a female occupa- tion, and also one in which a large number of the very young are employed ; and we find the occupation carried on in the villages of those counties, the makers of the plait feeding the towns, which, in their turn, from the increase in the plait-sewing and making- up operatives, have pushed the plait making farther and farther into the country. Ten or twelve years ago, the work was taught in plait schools, of which every little hamlet could boast a fair number; and their general character was well described by Mr. White,” who says that in one cottage he found a plait school of forty girls and the mistress, with only an * Children's Employment Commission, 2nd Report, 1864. STRA W PLAIT. 115 allowance of about twenty-four cubic feet of air for each. The scholars were of ages from between three to seven, while an infant under two was fingering straws in imi- tation of its neighbours. The small workers had their scissors tied to their waists, while the mistress main- tained discipline by a stick a yard long, which, in some schools, was pretty often in use. The general evils of this system were principally those of over- crowding, an utter lack of ventilation, and a long- continued monotonous employment, which told heavily on the physique and spirits of the poor little wretches. The specific evils were not of so much importance, and consisted in the plaiters getting their fingers cut, or their mouths excoriated from drawing the straws between them. The straws themselves have to undergo a kind of bleaching by sulphur, and this, with ill-fed, ill-conditioned little children, had a tendency to pro- duce rather obstinate sores. Still, as a rule, there does not appear to have been much absolute ill- treatment or inhumanity, but rather that slow mischief, arising from the densest ignorance of all things, moral or physical. The usual charge for education in straw plaiting was 1d. or 2d. a week; and after the child became a proficient, it either worked for the mistress or on its own account, the mistress selling the plait for the child and deducting a percentage for accom- modation. Of course, of education of the mind there was none; and even as lately as 1874, Mr. Red- grave speaks of the utter ignorance of the dis- trict and the paucity of Schools. At the present time the effect of supervision has been to close the greater part, if not all, of these plait Schools, and the I 2 116 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. children now mostly work at home. In 1872 there were twenty-four plait schools in Essex, which in 1874 were reduced to five, so that we may fairly speak of them as things of the past. Simple as the operation of plaiting appears, there are a good many varieties of it, and several processes to be gone through, such as sorting, or picking out the discoloured straws, to be made up into inferior plait ; cutting off the dead ends from the straws that have been plucked too near the root; splitting, in which the straw is split up into half-a-dozen or more strips by means of a tube, armed with steel slitters; milling, or passing the straws under weights, to take out their stiffness; wetting; clipping off the ends that stick out after plaiting; “bunching,” or carrying the plait from elbow to wrist and cutting it off at the tenth link; and, finally, steaming the links, or bleaching with sulphur. The goods are then ready to be taken to the “plait market,” which is held in the open air in one of the neighbouring towns and forms a peculiar and picturesque scene. The plait is sold by the score, i. e. two pieces, each 10 yards long, but the price differs according to the character of the work, whether the plait is Devon (or double), i.e. plaited with fourteen straws, or single, with seven, or whether the plait is whole, with unsplit straws, or of twisted edge, &c. Although straw hats and bonnets properly come under articles of dress, it will be better, under the circumstances of the manufacture being conducted on a factory system, to touch upon it here. In Luton the population of which has doubled within the last STRA W P L.A.I.T. 117 forty years, being 9000 in 1841 and 18,295 in 1871) and Dunstable, nearly the whole of the female popu- lation obtain their living directly or indirectly from this occupation; and the foreign trade with Australia, India, Cuba, and South America, is becoming of great importance. The work is carried on in three different ways: 1, by the families in the neighbouring villages, who make up for themselves and sell direct to the warehouses; 2, by “little ‘’ makers-up, who employ generally a small number of women, and also sell to the warehouses; and 3, the factories proper, where from three to four hundred females will probably be employed. The latter system is more prevalent at Dun- stable than Luton, not much home work being done at the former town. The factory operatives have by far the best of it, the wages being higher and the Sanitary conditions being very superior to those of the little masters. In the latter case the owner generally stiffens and irons the hats with one or two assistants; while the women sew the plait, lining, trimming, &c. One of the peculiar features of the trade is the immigration which takes place into Luton and Dunstable, during the busy season, of work women from London, who crowd the towns in no ordinary degree. The higher class of straw bonnet work is carried on in London, where latterly, I may mention, a paper imitation of straw plait has been largely made and sold. The earnings vary very much, according to the time of year and the abundance or slackness of work. Straw plaiters begin at 28, a week, when they are ten years old, and gra- dually increase, till they make up to 5s. or 68, a week, at the rate of production of 40 yards a day of twelve 118 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUs TRIES. hours. Adult hat and bonnet sewers earn from 10s. to 25s., with an average of about 15s, a week during the season, which lasts for six months in the year. The number, however, of the women who plait is decreasing, because of the large amount of plait introduced from China at a lower rate, so that all the better class of working people become bonnet sewers. It may interest some of my readers to know, that in 1875, 362,561 dozen of straw hats were exported, of the value of 323,363l.; of which 125,279 dozen went to France, 96,854 dozen to Australia, 39,001 dozen to British North America, and 20,497 dozen to the United States. On the other hand, we imported straw hats and bonnets from France and China to the value of 112,394l. III. HAIR. The manufacture of hair seating and hair weaving employs a sufficient number of operatives to justify a slight description here. The Factory Returns of 1871 give the following summary of hair factories: No. Of d * si º Of Above 18. Females. | Total - 3.TOIII] 13 ſes Ul We g 3.10 S. O º Factories. Miº. to 18. p Lancaster 2 ºr & as a 2I 34 55 Middlesex 7 22 61 178 25 264 Norfolk .. 3 I 8 22 3 33 Salop I tº gº 4 5 42 51 Somerset l - a 15 36 - - 51 Surrey .. 9 15. 27 215 580 822 Worcester I 2 24 23 171 21S York 7 3 11 48 277 337 Total ... 31 43 150 540 | 1132 | 1833 FIAIR, 119 But, in addition to these, there is a population of more than double this number in Suffolk and on the borders of Cambridgeshire, employed in hair-seating making. The villages in the Stour valley, such as Glemsford, Halstead, Melford, and others, are entirely dependent upon this trade, which, in this district, is a domestic one. The weavers are principally women, who formerly employed children largely in “serving,” viz. putting the hair on to the reed, by which it was drawn across the warp. Now, however, there is an appliance by which the weaver serves herself, the reed being fixed to an arm having a rotary motion from the loom, and worked by the feet, so that children's labour is, to a great extent, dispensed with. In the northern factories, such as at Sheffield, the first process is to prepare the hair, after it is brought in fresh from the animal ; and the curled hair, used for stuffing mattresses, is produced by spinning hair into a rope, which is then twisted. In 1874 the hair factories had decreased to 27. In 1875 the imports of hair were as follows: Quantity. Value. CW tS. 3. Cow, Ox, bull, or elk . : 58,151 181,814 Horse . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,231 171,053 Other kinds .. * * g tº g 254,098 the supplies of the first-named coming principally from France and Germany, and of the horse hair from Germany, Uruguay, and the Argentine Republic. The manufactures of hair for the same year amounted in value to 17,269l. ( 120 ) CEIAPTER WII. BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PRINTING. THESE final stages of textile industry, after the goods emerge from the factory, are of great importance, both as regards the articles themselves, the processes in- volved, and the numbers of workpeople employed in them. The Census tables give the following account of them : Dye Col Dyer,” S g e sº %." Bleacher. Printer. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. | England 2,551 277 Iºlas, 3,645 & ſº 8,804 1,056 Scotland 205 ... 4,168||1,440, 409 1,361 4,629 3,164 ºroland 44 8 400 63 1,501 | 84 25 Total 2,800 285 22,515 **** 13,517 * * Including silk, woollen, and cotton dyers. making a total of: Dye makers 3,085 25,502 5,916 17,762 Dyers, &c. Bleachers Printers Total 52,265 BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PRINTING, 121 The Factory Returns of 1871 show a total of 66,037 engaged in these branches, viz.: BLEACH AND DYE WORKS. No. Of Child Mal F leS Fºs up * up . is. Above 18. j i. Total. England ... 269 || 452 2,337 13,420 2,349 |18,378 Scotland .. 99 78 779 3,831 4,048 8,736 Ireland .. 71 20 362 2,963 968 4,313 Total . . . 439 550 8,47s 20,034 7,865 |31,427 CALENDERING AND FINISHING WORKS. England ... 71 14 || 301 | 1,760 266 2,341 Scotland .. 36 & sº 172 922 455 1,549 Ireland .. 43 e tº 45 352 I5 412 Total ... 150 14 51S sº 736 || 4,302 PRINT WORKS: CALICO AND OTHERS. England ... 118 2,349 3,182 11,710 1,616 18,827 sºiani. 23 | "sº iſºss || 4.6s. 3.3si idº Ireland .. 3 111 91 452 78 732 Total .. 149 3,357 5,059 | 16,847 5,075 º The bleaching and dyeing claim our first attention. The process of bleaching varies according to the nature of the material, cotton, linen, or woollens undergoing different treatment in detail, though the object is the same in all, viz. to deprive the fabric of colouring 122 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. matter and give it a snowy whiteness. Cotton, which is usually bleached after being woven, though some- times it is bleached as yarn, is the most important of all, and gives employment to the largest number of operatives. The different stages, as so well described by Mr. Sims in his article on Bleaching,” consist of . singeing or burning off the loose fibres or nap ; washing (and sometimes steeping in malt and water); “bowking,” or boiling the goods with lime in large vessels, called “kiers; ” “souring,” or passing them through weak muriatic acid and water ; boiling again with soda ash; passing through bleaching powder, the chlorine of which imparts such a beautiful whiteness; and, finally, souring once more in weak sulphuric acid. As a rule, the conditions of labour in bleach works are not so severe as they are in the textile factories, although, taking the individual occupations, there are some which are quite as trying, as, for instance, in the drying rooms, the stoves, and the singeing and stitch- ing departments. The women who work in the latter are, in some works, exposed to considerable heat, while the cloth is being singed over red-hot plates, during which operation disagreeable fumes are given off. The stitching, which is carried on in this room, is for the purpose of fastening together a number of pieces of cotton cloth, so as to enable them to be drawn rapidly and continuously over the plate. The stitching is otherwise called “whipping the ends,” and there are two kinds, grey and white, the Women who stitch the grey earning the best pay. The other * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PRINTING. 123 principal employments of women are “hooking” and “making up,” although men sometimes do the latter. The office of the “hooker” is to hook the cloth into the lengths required, a work which entails the hardest manual labour of any of the operations in the female department. The hooks are placed about a yard apart, and the cloth has to be fastened to them by a slight hold on the selvage. The woman who does this “is continually in motion all day. She is stooping every minute, and hooks probably 250 pieces of 40 yards a day; and what with the passing backwards and for- wards, hooking the plaits, and having to pull the plaits, and so keep bending incessantly, and then carrying her pieces, of from 9 lbs. up to 20 lbs., to a table some distance off, and then fetching her pieces from the pulling frame, she is incessantly at work.”* There are usually three hookers to one maker-up, and the payment is by the 100 pieces; at all events, in the Lancashire district. The over-sizing, which, as we have seen (p. 22), is carried to such an extent in the weaving of cotton, is a great nuisance to the workers in the hooking and making-up departments, on account of the fine dust which is continually disengaged and floats about the room. In the bowking process, the pieces of cloth are drawn straight from the washing machine in a continuous length through earthenware loops, called “pot-eyes,” and then pass over a winch, until they fall into the “kier,” which is a steam-tight cylindrical vessel of cast iron, heated by steam at low pressure. The kier holds about 3500 lbs. of cloth, * Factory and Workshop Acts Commission, 1875. 124 BRITISH MANUFACTURING IND USTRIES. which, as it descends, is laid in regular plaits by boys, to be soaked with the water and milk of lime. The boys have to stand upon the brink of the kier, and have to be rather careful that they do not fall in also : added to which, they get their clothes wet in filling the kier, and taking the cloths out again for the fresh Washing. Of late years the kier is frequently heated by high-pressure steam, which has proved to be rather dangerous to the workmen; while it is also complained that the boys have to enter into the kier through a manhole, so as to plait the cloth again for another boiling, a very hot and oppressive task. The bleaching, properly so called, is perhaps the nicest and pleasantest part of the whole process. Where open-air bleaching is practised, as is the case in the linen in the North of Ireland, the operation takes a long time, extending to a couple of months; but in cotton, bleaching is now entirely done by chemical means and under cover. The bleaching croft, as it is called, is a healthy and rather re- freshing place, from the presence of the chloride of lime. The final processes of drying and clamping are carried on at a considerable temperature, so much so that the operatives, who are almost always men and boys, dispense with as much clothing as they conveniently can. The drying room is also liable to be full of steam. As a rule, the women do not work in the drying rooms, although it appears that they do so in Ireland; and when this is the case, it is doubtless an unhealthy occupation. From a table compiled by the medical officer of an Irish bleach BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PRINTING. 125 work, rheumatism seems to be the preponderating ailment, there being, out of a total number of 481 patients in the years 1872–3–4, sixty-six suffering from this disease. Workers in bleach works, and particularly women, are generally brought up, more or less, in that em- ployment; and it is observed that factory hands seldom leave the mill to work at bleaching. In point of status, the operatives are usually respectable, clean, and tidy, and hold about the same position as weavers in the mills. A curious custom prevails in some parts of Scotland of having barracks for the women to reside in, the reason being that many of the bleach works are at a considerable distance from a town, and there is, therefore, a scarcity of accom- modation. In Renfrewshire and similar districts the bleaching classes are recruited by importations of Irish girls, who have no friends, and would not otherwise know where to go for lodgings; so that the system is, if properly managed, one of great benefit to the opera- tives. Like other factory hands, the condition of those in bleaching establishments has been wonderfully im- proved of late years. In the Report of the Commission on Bleaching and Dyeing Works, 1851, it was stated that at one particular work, the women remained for four days and nights with their clothes on, and only rested on the tables and benches for an hour or two : indeed, a stretch of seventeen or eighteen hours’ work at a time was not uncommon. The following is a table of the average weekly earnings of bleachers; but it must be remembered that 126 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. they vary very much, according to the district and the material: 1871. 1876. | S. Cl S. d. S. d. S. d. Foremen . . . . . 35 0 38 0 to 40 () Men . . . . . . . . 16 0 to 21 0 | 18 0 , 25 0 Stitchers and singeers.. 9 0 , 9 6 || 14 0 , 16 0 Boys in stoves - e. 9 0 , 13 0 || 10 0 , 14 0 Makers-up . . . . . . 18 0 , 21 0 Girls and boys . . . . 7 0 , 9 0 Although most dyers are bleachers, the converse does not follow; and in all cases, the dye works and the bleach works are distinct ; but with printing dyeing is so intimately associated, that the two trades may almost be looked upon as identical. Block and cylinder printing are the two methods in vogue at the present day; in block printing, the colouring matter or mor- dant being supplied by means of wooden blocks, worked by hand; and in cylinder printing, by engraved copper rollers, from which the mordants are transferred imme- diately to the cloth by pressure and rotation. The Factory Returns give the following summary of both kinds of work: | No No. of No. of ... Nº.ºf Factories. | §: ! Cylinders. º England . . . 118 794 22,492 || 2,948 Scotland 2S 241 827 1,184 Ireland 3 10 6 I72 by which it will be seen that the great majority of the work is done by cylinders; and this is not to be wondered at, when we notice the accuracy and speed by which one or more colours can be put on to the cloth. BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PRINTING. 127 The fixation of the mordants is one of the principal operations of the dyeing process, these being usually applied before the colouring matter. During this stage, the goods are “aged,” viz. passed through a warm, moist chamber, Saturated by steam jets, and the superfluous mordant is afterwards washed out in solutions of phosphate of soda, a process still known as “dunging.” The art of dyeing requires a very considerable knowledge of chemistry, for the colours which the dyer now uses are of infinite variety, and differ much from each other in their application, and the length of time which they require. For stock dyes, madder and indigo are those which are most in use. The Turkey-red dyeing trade, which is principally confined to Scotland, comprehends more than twenty distinct processes, each occupying an entire day, and extending over a period of twenty-six working days for cloth and twenty-two days for yarn. The dyeing of cloth can be carried on without exposing it to the external air ; but that of yarn requires open-air work. Neither printing or dyeing appear to be deleterious to health, and certainly there are no processes in either, which are so laborious as some of those which I have just described in bleaching. As regards legislation, the earliest Act under which this class of operatives was placed, was the Print Works Regulation Act of 1845 (8 & 9 Vic. c. 29), when printers were included under the same supervision as that of the spinning and weaving mills. By the Bleach- ing Act of 1860 (23 & 24 Vic. c. 78), the bleachers and dyers were also included, except those who worked at bleaching in the open air. The hour of finishing 128 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. work at night was fixed at 8 P.M., and 4.30 P.M. on Saturdays. In 1862, however (26 & 27 Vic. c. 8), the open-air bleaching was put under the same category; and by the Bleaching and Dye Works Extension Act of the succeeding year, the “calenderers” and finishers were also given the benefits of inspection; an advan- tage extended in 1864 to those who were engaged in “hooking,” “lapping,” or making up, and packing yarn and cloth. By the Factory and Workshops Act of 1870 (38 & 34 Vic. c. 62), the Factory Extension Act of 1867 was made to apply to all these branches of occupation. The following were the average wages earned in 1871 : Colour Mixing— S. d. S. d. Foremen . . . . . . . . . . 40 0 to 60 0 Men & ... . . . . . . . . 18 0 Boys * ... . . . . . . ... 10 0 , 14 0 Ageing and Steaming— Foremen “ ... . . . . . . . 25 0 , 30 0 Men & . . . . . . . . . . 16 0 Girls and boys * ... ... .. 8 0 , 18 0 Machine Printing— Foremen . . . . . . . . .. 55 0 Printers . . . . . . . . . . 20 0 , 25 0 Tenters * ... . . . . . . . . 16 0 Boys * ... . . . . . . . . 5 0 , 8 0 Hand Printing— Foremen . . . . . . . . . . 27 0 Printers . . . . . . . . . . 20 0 , 25 0 Half-timers . . . . . . . . 3 0 Dyeing and Cleaning— Foremen . . . . . . . . . . 35 0 , 60 0 Dyers* ... . . . . . . . . 17 0 Women” . . . . . . . . . . 10 6, 12 6 Boys.” ... . . . . . . . . 6 0 , 10 0 Finishing— Calenderers * ... . . . . . . 16 0 , 17 0 Makers-up and packers * ... 18 0 , 21 0 BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PRINTING. 129 Since 1871 a considerable rise has taken place in these earnings, and more especially in the divisions of labour marked thus,” the increase being from 208. to 25s. skilled hands, while foremen get higher or lower wages according to capability. Circumstances vary so much, however, that it is very difficult to give any fixed rate. The work is mostly by the piece. The statistics of the imports of dye stuffs embrace several materials: Cochineal, Cutch and * i & Year. Grº and Gambier. Garancine. Indigo CW'tS. tonS. CW'tS. - CWts. 1866 32,751 15,279 49,150 74,256 1867 47,054 15,348 66,468 71,995 1868 35,575 23,780 79,612 75,874 1869 41,276 18,840 30,510 86,721 1870 47,790 24,996 42,195 79,255 1871 55,429 30,546 27,738 106,307 1872 39,132 26,777 43,313 87,320 1873 42,263 29,512 43,101 87,233 1874 39,393 21,032 53,006 85,707 1875 40,941 28,845 25,865 59,608 Year. Madder. Madder Root. Shumach. Valonia. CW'tS. CWtS. tonS. tons. 1866 121,563 223,519 13,688 29,396 1867 121,146 138,715 13,440 19,547 1868 128,242 178,481 13,251 29,673 1869 38,139 105,626 13,234 23,652 1870 37,820 135,498 14,431 25,781 1871 93,624 154,801 16,481 27,099 1872 134,207 109,352 14,614 32,481 I873 92,493 76,416 13,782 28,977 1874 65,355 148,002 16,514 26,336 1875 38,241 63,981 14,686 24,434 R 130 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Of the value of: Cochineal, Year. Grº and º 'Garancine. Indigo. ust. f f £ f. 1866 594,818 386,309 320,812 2,207,597 1867 809,914 348,494 434,711 2,422,534 1868 588,691 463,463 517,480 2,854,213 1869 579,547 360,399 202,372 3,194,613 1870 581,956 468,388 275,177 2,721,208 1871 719,624 511,095 220,465 2,937,224 1872 509,605 576,195 285,926 2,482,347 1873 535,691 684,188 316,873 2,433,712 1874. 478,761 523,760 389,380 2,153,732 1875 492,976 741,255 220,323 1,618,853 Year. Madder. Madder Root. Shumach. Walonia. f f f £, 1866 282,363 533,577 I867 282,401 - - - tº 331,264 J.868 300,630 551,289 233,555 471,887 1869 89,536 321,732 201,615 357,455 1870 92,683 339,333 228,431 395,546 1871 254,532 389,138 206,617 448,458 1872 372,563 271,931 220,333 558,207 1873 221,859 156,940 208,381 524,490 1874 148,830 258,912 261,747 550,232 1875 90,307 102,760 246,343 622,019 The cochineal and granilla come principally from the Canary Islands and Mexico; cutch from India ; Gambier from the Strait Settlements; indigo from Bengal, Madras, and Mexico; madder from France and Holland, and the root from Turkey, Italy, and Holland ; shumach from Italy; and valonia from Turkey and Greece. ( 131 ) CHAPTER VIII. CLOTHING AND DRESS. HAVING glanced, as fully as my space would admit, at those great bodies of operatives engaged in the textile manufactures, I will proceed to describe those, who find their occupation in making up these textiles into the clothing which society needs. The reader will find on page 3 a summary compiled from the Census Tables of 1871 of this enormous class, and on page 6 one from the Factory Returns of the same date, comprising those who follow this occupation and, at the same time, are associated in factory life. The number of those who work on the factory system, however, in the manufacture of dress, bears no proportion to those engaged in domestic industry. The Census, for instance, gives the total of workers in dress, viz. hair and wig makers, hatters, furriers, tailors, millimers, staymakers, hosiers, glovers, boot and shoe makers, patten, button, umbrella, and shirt makers, for England, Scotland, and Ireland, at 1,123,122; while the Factory Returns places the fac- tory workers in the same trades at only 62,326. I shall deal as briefly as possible with the various divi- sions of labour which go to make up this great indus- trial army. K 2 132 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. I. MILLINERS AND DRESSMAKERs. I need scarcely say that this trade is one that is almost entirely carried on by female industry, although there were, in 1871, as many as 1141 man-milliners, who, it is presumed, would be those occupied in superintending the wholesale shops and warehouses. But of milliners and dressmakers (female) there were: Under 20. Above 20. & Total. - —— England . . . . 64,869 234,799 299,668 Scotland ſ 6,977 26,017 32,994 Ireland 9,598 21,237 30,835 Total 81,444 282,053 363,497 We will take the ages of the English workers, as a sample of the whole: 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 4 l 5,441 |59,387 62,251 76,077 || 48,307 || 28,812 || 13,521 4,634 | last by which it will be seen that all ages find employ- ment at this work, while the vast majority lies in the ranks of young womanhood. Millinery and dressmaking, although usually considered by the out- side world to be synonymous, are by no means the same thing; but although they, together with mantle making, are sometimes carried on by the same em- ployer, they are all distinct trades, although, of course, MILLINERS AND DRESSMAKERS. 133 possessing similar conditions of labour, and all united by that common bond of union in trades of dress, viz. the sewing machine. Millinery takes a wider and a better-paid range than dressmaking, and comprises the thousand and one ornamentations of a lady's toilette, in the shape of cap-fronts, borders, trimmings, &c. The millinery establishments in all large towns usually have two classes of workers, the resident and the day workers, the former preponderating in metropolitan West-end establishments, and the latter in the whole- sale houses. These are subject to the fluctuations of the trade, being liable to dismissal when work is slack, which in London is usually the case during December, January, and for about a month, or sometimes two, in the summer. In large millinery establishments there is also found another class of worker, called an “im- prover,” who enters for a period of training, and pays instead of being paid. There is probably no body of workers which has undergone such amelioration as this, on all points, wages, sanitary improvement, and limitation of working hours—the two latter resulting mainly from the passing of the Factories and Workshops Amendment Act of 1871 (34 & 35 Vic. c. 104), by which young persons of fourteen years of age and upwards, and women, may be employed for a period not exceeding fourteen hours in any one day, provided that it shall not be for more than ninety-six days in any period of twelve months, or for more than five consecutive days in one week. But this modification is only permissive, and practically the 134 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES Inspectors limit it still further at discretion, Mr. Red- grave only allowing twenty-four days in the year. Millinery and dressmaking are emphatically season trades, and—especially in our large towns—the time of year and character of our climate are the chief agents in influencing the “season;” but the unwritten laws of Fashion have also enormous influence; and Fashion, as set in motion by that stern slave-driver, Society, has been the cause of terrible abuses, which, though recognized as such by public opinion, were too deeply rooted to be put down by it. Overcrowded rooms were, ten years ago, the rule and not the exception, having an average of cubic feet of air varying from 80 to 160 feet. It is mentioned in Mr. White's Report on Milliners,” that a large City wholesale firm had in their three work-rooms an area of accommodation for four hundred work-women; but when as many as one hundred and thirty were placed in one room, fainting fits were com- mon. They then limited the number to one hundred, thus raising the proportion of air per head from 203 to 264 feet, the result being that the faintings ceased. The burning of a large quantity of gas added to the mischief, by taking away so much oxygen and Sup- plying in its place so much foul air; so that prolonged labour in an atmosphere of this kind from 6 A.M. till midnight, and, during the length of the London season, sometimes till four next morning, was often sufficient to break down the health of a worker in one single season. Mr. Radcliffe, in his Report on this subject to the * Children's Employment Commissioners' Second Report, 1864. MILLINERS AND DRESSMAKERS. 135 Privy Council, 1863, enumerates a formidable catalogue of physical evils to which milliners and dressmakers Were subject, such as nervous head-aches, tic-dolo- reux, imperfect respiration and digestion, irregular uterine functions, defective constitution, consump- tion, swelled legs and blistered feet, this last being specially noticeable amongst the trimmers of ball dresses, who have to stand at their work. “None of the persons examined had been engaged less than eighteen months in the millinery business, and the effects described were found in every grade of de- velopment. They had gradually grown from the occu- pation, and the susceptibility to them seemed to remain, the longer the employed had been engaged in it.” The same kind of statements, varying only in intensity, were made by Drs. Ord, Ballard, Letheby, and other sanitary authorities. It is very satisfactory to find that the opinion of Mr. Redgrave is, that, since the Legislature took the matter in hand, an immense improvement has taken place throughout the whole country in all millinery and dress work, and parti- cularly in the matter of over-time and better venti- lation. Neither must we omit to mention the almost universal adoption of the sewing machine, which appears to have had an undeniably good influence on the physique of the worker. In some cases, evidence has been brought forward, that mischief was occasioned by the strain caused on the eyes, and on the legs, in working the treadles; but although doubtless there are many individual machinists who have suffered from 136 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. it, and particularly where the class of work is heavy, as in tailoring, the great mass of those who use it, would not again change the machine for hand- work. It is impossible to state anything with accuracy respecting the wages of milliners or dressmakers, for they vary on so many points, such as the town in which the workers reside, the class of work on which they are engaged, and many other circumstances. In 1871 the Factory Returns gave the following list of weekly earnings for the metropolis: Manager . . . . . . .. 31. 16s. 8d.* Dressmakers . . . . . . 11s. 6d. to 30s. 8d.* Dressmakers ... ... from 10s. to 27s.f Milliners . . . . . . . . 9s. 2d. to 25s.” * With board and lodging. + Without lodging, tea only. Mantle work: Machinists . . . . . . 15s. to 18s. Hand-workers ... ... 12s. to 20s. Day-workers ... . . . . 12s. to 158. At the present time, it may be stated generally, that wages have increased 25 or 30 per cent. Managers in large London houses obtain good salaries, reaching as high as 200l. per annum; while day-workers vary, according to merit, from 10s. to 27s. per week. Mantle- making machinists in good houses will earn 208., and in suburban wholesale houses from 12s. to 16s. As a rule, earnings in the provinces are not so good as in London. TAILORS. 137 II. TAILORs. Tailors and tailoresses together constitute a very large body of operatives. The statistics of the Census are as follows: Tailors. Tailoresses. Total. England . . . . . . . 111,843 38,021 149,864 Scotland . . . . 18,322 1,084 19,406 Ireland . . . . . . 18,769 1,502 20,271 Total 148,934 40,607 189,541 and the average ages of the workers (English): 5– 10– 15– | 20– 25– Males . . . . . 9 2,704 11.9s 11,612 22,498 Females .. 7 1,085 6,395 6,279 8,712 -----|--|-- 35– 45- 55- 65– 75 Males ... ... 21,161 20,314 | 13,730 5,884 1,950 Females .. 6,741 4,776 2,587 1,127 312 by which the occupation seems to be pretty equally spread over each period of life. As a rule, the tailor's occupation is not on the factory system, but in a vast number of cases, and especially in the country, he is rather a solitary individual than otherwise, perhaps assisted by one or two others, either working for themselves, or taking work home from the master. In 138 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. the towns, however, the trade is more aggregated, and comes under the Workshops Act supervision. The Factory Returns give the factory tailors at: i No. of No. of Fac- Sewing tories. Machines. Children Males Above 18. Females. | Total. under 13. up to 18. | | 24.15 31 IIS 1537 4967 6653 | England || 44 Scotland 14 759 12 215 1363 1596 Ireland | 3 || 137 | 3 | 114 | 885 1002 Total || 6 || 311 37 | 133 1866 | 7215 ºn As to the places of work in which men and women tailors pass their days, I fear that not very much can be said in their favour, while another great evil is that of the “sweating” system, in which the prices for the work done are ground down to the very lowest. As regards the diseases incident to the occupation, the men suffer much from respiratory complaints, partly from the ill-ventilated, stuffy workshops, and partly from the attitude in which all tailors work. Both men and women, too, are liable to affections of the eye, principally of a nervous character, and these are found to be much increased when the sight is concentrated for long together on black cloth. The mortality of tailors in 1871 is given by the Registrar- General thus: | t - Total. 5– * 15– 20– 25— 35– e- 55— 65— 75 288 35946) 455 416 || 352 2504 . 5 68 || 121 TAILORS, 139 “Tailors die at rates much above the average. For their health, and for shoemakers, much remains to be done.” Tailoring for women in our large towns is usually a very badly paid employment, although it is better than shirtmaking, as it demands a certain amount of know- ledge and skill, and deals with heavier materials. It is a fact that in London, by some of the contractors for army clothing, the rates paid are only 4%d. for trousers, and for canvas trousers 5d., although the average pay is higher than this. A very bright con- trast, however, is afforded to this miserable state of things, by the Army Clothing Depôt in Pimlico, the largest factory establishment of the kind in the king- dom, where Colonel Hudson, the superintendent, has shown how much can be done towards ameliorating the condition of the operatives. The utmost order and discipline prevail amongst the workers, who carry on their occupation in a noble, light, and well venti- lated hall, all appearing happy, healthy, and contented. They may well be so, for they are earning good wages, under a system which ensures them permanent em- ployment, while, on the other hand, the public service is very much the gainer by it. At this establishment one thousand women are daily at work, turning out every article of attire that is worn in the army, except shirts; and as one of the first qualifications for admis- sion is good character and an aptitude for needlework, an examination is held of each candidate by a com- mittee, consisting of the matron, the foreman cutter, the foreman viewer, and the instructor, who are responsible 140 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. for the selection of proper persons. On admission, they are placed in a trial division in the factory for further probation and promotion. There are one hundred and twenty sewing machines at work, specially adapted for heavy tailoring, and as steam is the motive power, a great deal of strain is taken off from the machinist. The hall is arranged with military order, there being fifty-eight tables, with a passage in the centre and down each side. Nine women work at each table, eight of whom baste and sew, the ninth being the machinist, who is able to get through all the work which the other eight can prepare. As the machinist is of con- siderable importance in the proper regulation of the work, she is dressed in a red garibaldi, so as to make her easily noticed and recognized, if away from her table. The mechanical arrangements in the ironing department are very perfect, the irons or “geese’ being slung on arms, moving on universal joints, while the board on which the garment is laid, is lifted up to meet the iron, by a lever pressed by the foot. Every- thing here is done on piece-work, and the calculations are so minute and so admirably arranged, that any worker can see at a glance what she has made in the week; while by the same system, the cost of the smallest material is debited to the proper garment in which it is used. The rate of pay for making an ordinary tunic for a private in the line is 38. 2d.; for a pair of trousers, 1s. 2d.; for a frock, 18. 10d. ; towels, 4d. per dozen; lining of caps, 2%d. ; strap, 1d., &c.; and a tolerably clever work-woman can make one tunic, or nearly four pairs of trousers, in a day. A garment TA II, O.R.S. 141 is given out to be made (the factory finding thread) to each worker, and is entered against her name; and for every pair of trousers so given out, the machinist at that table gets 2d. from the worker; for a funic, 4d. ; for a frock, 3d. ; and thus each of the eight has to con- tribute to the machinist. Supposing, therefore, that each hand made four pairs of trousers per day, this amounts to 4s. 8d., less 2d. per pair (or 8d. total), to the machinist. The worker's earnings will, therefore, be 4s., while the machinist would earn 5s. 4d. In practice, however, her earnings would not be above 4s. 6d. per day. In making up uniforms of a more costly character, such as that of a drum-major or a trumpeter, the wages earned are considerably higher, and 30s. or even 40s. are occasionally made. The factory, however, is not limited to women's work only, for about two hundred men are employed, all of whom present the same marked contrast to their less for- tunate brethren, who are engaged on starvation wages from day to day in crowded, unhealthy rooms. The whole system of the Army Clothing Depôt reflects the utmost credit on its management. It is only fair to state, that while miserable wages are the rule in our crowded towns for the home seamstress, there are, at the East End of London, wholesale clothiers' and contractors' establishments, where the work is done on the premises, and where a reasonably good week's earnings may be realized. 142 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. III. Boots AND SHOEs. The manufacture of these very necessary articles of clothing has undergone of late years remarkable changes; and few of my readers, probably, are aware of the extensive introduction of machinery that has taken place. The obvious result has been the conversion of shoemaking from a domestic to a factory trade, a con- dition which is apparently on the increase. The numbers engaged in this occupation, in 1871, were: Males. Females. Total. England * - e & I97,465 25,000 222,465 Scotland & © ºn tº 24,161 1,221 25,382 Ireland . . . . . . 32,113 1,495 33,608 Total . . . . . 253,739 27,716 281,455 | - Add to these, 1194, who are employed in providing pattens for wet weather, and clogs for the factory operatives, and we have a total of 282,649 engaged in chaussures of some kind. Although mainly the occu- pation of a man, women have of late years largely found employment, owing to the universal use of the sewing machine, which can be applied to stiff leathers just as well as to the most delicate muslin. The ages of the workers were : 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– Males . . . . 67 6,525 | 19,515 20,856 41,919 Females .. | 36 2,143 6,260 4,617 4,850 BOOTS AND SHOES. 143 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 Males. ... 36,932 31,968 28,081 | 12,494 4,108 Females .. 3,084 || 2,443 1,409 793 265 * which shows that, while there is a large leavening of young workers, there are probably more old men amongst shoemakers than in any other class of opera- tives. The Factory Returns give the following list: No. of No. of 'co. - Children Males rt Fac- | Sewing * , Above 18. Females. Total. tories. Machinºs, up to 13: "Pºo is. England 139 3.280 116 2,239 Tº 6,322 16,641 Scotland | 6 || 284 || 1 || 251 829 514 | 1,595 Ireland 2 33 21 83 78 1S2 Total 147 3,547 117 | 2,511, 8,876 6,914 18,418 | | There is a considerable difference between London and the provinces in the labour conditions of this trade, the latter adopting more of the factory system, in towns like Leicester, Stafford, Ipswich, and North- ampton, all great boot and shoemaking localities, while London has only partially fallen into it; and there is therefore much garret work, and, what is worse, a large amount of miserably paid contract work, especially as regards the female operatives, the price that is sometimes paid to machinists being not more than half-a-crown per dozen for women's boots, or at the rate of 2%d. a pair. Formerly, all the “closing” was done by men, especially when the “uppers ” were for men's boots; but the sewing machine now does the greater part of this. Children, too, prior to the 144 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. introduction of the machines, were more numerous in the trade, and were employed in “stabbing,” an un- healthy occupation, which required continued stooping, and caused deformed backs. Now, however, two or three girl machinists can do as much “stabbing” as thirty children were able to do by hand. At present young girls are employed in basting, tacking, fitting, &c., and the children in tying knots, putting in eyelets and laces, and various odd jobs of the kind. In some of the provincial factories, the work is altogether finished in them, while in others the material is cut out and distributed to the “closer,” the “maker,” or the “finisher,” who work at home. The old fashion of stitching with the “clamps” has been superseded by the system of riveting the soles on to the uppers, and as in the case of “closing,” has dispensed with a good many hand-workers. In the latter process, indeed, the sewing machine is capable of anything. For a long time after it was used for lighter work, heavy boots, like Wellingtons, were closed by hand; but it has been subsequently so much improved, that by its means a woman can “close ’’ a pair of navvy's boots weighing 7 or 8 lbs. per pair, and with soles three-quarters of an inch thick. The “maker,” who in old days was represented by the cobbler with his awl and waxed thread, is now frequently supplemented by the riveter, who has a boy to help him. The “finisher.” takes the boot in its rough state, and fastening it upon his knee, uses a burnishing iron to it, an operation called “staking.” “Clickers” and “trenchers” are men who cut out, in different modes, the material for the upper BOOTS AND SHOES. 145 leathers, which, in the case of an ordinary elastic boot, is composed of six different pieces; and the test of a clever clicker is, to cut them out with the least possible waste of material. It is probable that very sweeping changes will ere long be made in the boot trade; for new machinery is constantly appearing, which must necessarily alter the old state of things. At a factory in Newcastle- under-Lyme, the whole of the boot is made in this way, and to a very large extent by women, who, - by various ingenious machines, close the uppers, sew on the welts and insoles, “last’ the boots at the rate of one hundred and fifty pairs a day, and tack on and stitch the soles. Bootmaking is not usually considered a healthy occupation, although it is more so than tailoring. Factory work is for obvious reasons better than “garret” work, where the evils of crowding and want of ventilation are sure to be felt; but where hand work is carried on, the seden- tary occupation and the constrained position tell hardly against a good many. The riveters are said to suffer from nervous affections, from the noise caused by the hammering; and the habit of putting the brass nails into the mouth tends to produce excoriations, which are rather difficult to heal. The machinists suffer more in boot work than in ordinary sewing, owing to the heavy character of the double-action ma- chine. Many of the workers on patent or enamelled leather are liable to affections of the eyes, induced partly by the dazzle of the material, and partly by the quantity of gas which is kept burning in the L 146 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. machinists’ room. The death rate of the shoemaker is below the average, except at twenty and twenty- five, according to the returns of 1871: Total. 15– 20— 25– 35– 45– 55— 65— 75 tº-mº ºm ººm-º ºmºmº || *s-, -º-º-º ºmº- wn tº s 3 82 192 *** | | 5– 10– | 724 | 844 805 | Wages, as regarding women, are not always satis- factory, for it was stated lately in an industrial news- paper,” that in Bristol they had been paid 2s. 2d. for joining a dozen uppers, but that this sum had been reduced to 1s. 10d., and would probably be still further curtailed to 1s. 2d. In factories, however, the wages are good; and in some, like the one at Newcastle, piece and day work are combined. Both girls and boys com- mence on a three years' agreement, at from 68. to 78. per week for the first year, and a shilling additional each subsequent year. But besides this, 58. to 88. may be made over and above the fixed wages. The exports of boots and shoes within the ten years Were : Year. Dozen Pairs. Value. zé 1866 295,802 998,888 1867 274,036 952,804 1868 439,265 1,397,606 1869 436,329 1,326,792 1870 372,599 1,148,423 1871 506,928 1,513,771 1872 579, 130 1,695,248 1873 527,694 1,707,886 1874 410, 114 1,374,302 1875 462,840 1,517,267 * “The Beehive.” G D OVERS AND HATTERS. 147 IV. GLOVERS AND HATTERS. The number of English glovers and hatters, in 1871, was: Male. Female. Total. Glovers ... ... 1,594 15,217 16,811 Hatters ... ... 18,540 8.238 21,778 Gloving, it will be seen, is essentially a woman's occupation, and the making of hats that of a man, the greater portion of the female workers engaged in this latter trade, being employed in the straw hat manufacture at Luton and Dunstable, to which I have referred in a previous chapter (page 117). When We speak of the glove trade, it is understood to be that of leather or kid gloves, those of knitted material being carried on under the title of hosiery. London, Worcester, Evesham, and Yeovil are the principal localities for the glovers, who are not often associated in anything like factory work, but for the most part follow their occupation at home. The Factory Returns state that there were, in 1871, thirteen fac- tories in England, employing 1938 hands. From the ages at the time of the Census, it would appear that the majority of the glovers are young women. 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 31st 2317 80 14092703,2346 | * 815 361 94 L 2 148 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. In addition to the numbers above given, a small body of workpeople is engaged in making stuff gloves, called “fabric,” as distinguished from leather, the material being sent down from London into the country, where it is cut out and sewn together. The preparing of the skins and the cutting of the gloves are usually done by men, “who with shears cut the piece into strips, from which are made the thumbs, and oblong shapes, which are punched out by means of a die called a “web, and a hand press; the palm, back, and fingers, which are thus in one flat piece, are then rolled up with the other parts and distributed to be sewn, the backs having been first given out to be ‘pointed or “tamboured’ as the case may be. Pointing, or plain sewing at the back, is performed by the aid of what is called an “engine.’ This consists of a small brass vice with grooves or teeth on each side, fixed at the top by a slight wooden stem, which springs from a flat stand; the teeth open and close by means of a spring worked by the foot. The whole instrument is very small and light; when in use, the girl, sitting on a low stool, holds the stem between her knees, her feet being on the stand; the back of the glove is firmly held between the teeth, so as to be level with the top of them, while the needle is passed through each pair of grooves in succession and the silk sewn over.”* Boys are occupied in rolling up the material into packets for the home workers to take away, and also in putting studs in, and punching out thumbs by means of a hand press. The vast majority of glovers are brought up to * Children’s Employment Commission, 2nd Report, 1864. G. LOVERS AND HATTERS. 149 the trade from infancy, somewhat in the same fashion as in the pillow lace and straw plait districts. From the localization of the trade being in pretty country towns, such as Evesham and Yeovil, one would be apt to think that ill-health was rare; but this does not seem to be the case, for glovers are described as being pale and narrow-chested, from working for many hours a day over their tambour frames in an ill-ventilated little room. The evidence of those who were qualified to judge at the time of the Children’s Employment Commission, in 1864, was not very favourable to the state of morality in the glowing towns. The wages are paid by the piece; a good glover being able to earn from 4S. to 5s. per dozen pair of best gloves, and an ordinary hand from 38. to 48. Hatters and cap makers are factory workers, al- though in the latter division a great deal of work is performed at home. In 1871 there were : | | No. of | No. of Fac- Sewing tories. Machines Children | Males Above 1s. under 13. up to 18. Females. | Total. England 112 | 926 223 799 || 3474 3894 | S390 Scotland 9 179 - - 2S 272 55S S5S Ireland 2 2 -> - 6 78 53 137 Total 123 1107 223 833 3824 4505 | ; - - Although hatters are to be found in every town in the kingdom of any size, the chief localities for the trade are London, Stockport, and Oldham ; in the two 150 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. latter of which hatting has been a speciality for many years. The principal occupations for the men are body making, finishing, shaping or “tipping,” and “plank- ing,” in which last women, girls, and boys also assist. Both body making and planking are usually done at home, in sheds attached to the dwelling-house. The following is the modus operandi of this latter process. In the middle of the shed is an octagonal kind of table, from the outside edge of which the eight plane surfaces slope towards the centre; in the middle of this is placed some hot water, in which is dissolved shell-lac in a weak solution of ammonia. The worker at each plane dips the felt into the mixture, and rolls it on the plane, so as to harden it and reduce it to the proper dimensions. The ammonia, volatised by the heat, is given out into the atmosphere in rather considerable quantities, but it does not appear to render the occupation unhealthy. Women are also employed in sewing the silk used in an ordinary black hat into the shape required for blocking, sewing the linings and the inside leather band, an operation known as “lashing”; also in cutting off the ends of the thread (piecing off), which the binders leave. Hatters earn good wages, and especially the “tip- pers” or “shapers,” who are the picked men of the trade, and can make, in good times, from 5l. to 6l. per week. Body-makers' earnings are about 358. to 408., and finishers', 40s. to 50s. Apprentices pay a premium of 10l. for seven years. A clever shaper can turn out sixteen dozen hats a week; but, as is so often the case SEAMSTRESSES. 151 with special or highly-paid workmen, they are not famous for regularity of habits, but frequently absent themselves, from work after pay day. Planking is very often a family occupation, by which four or five persons will make 5l. a week. The exports of hats for the last decade are as follows: Year. Quantities. Value. dozens. - zł I866 264,476 490,629 I867 271,868 510,031 1868 276,519 474,675 1869 329,409 511,472 I870 338,389 527,336 I871 452,153 668,681 I872 583, 191 | 847,561 IS73 597,943 880,787 I874 632,686 944,961 1875 757,686 1,045,440 by which it will be seen that a great increase has been steadily taking place in the demand for this article of apparel. Australia buys the greater number of our felt hats, and also of straw hats, next to France; while Germany, Belgium, and South Africa are the next largest consumers. W. SEAMSTRESSEs. Though constituting a large numerical section of our population, this occupation need not detain us long, the two leading characteristics unfortunately 152 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. of this branch of labour being poor health and poor pay. Under the head of “shirt maker and seamstress,” we have in the Census tables: |Under 20. Above 20. Total. England - - - - 10,831 69,207 S0,038 Scotland . . . . 3,249 11,739 14,988 Ireland .. - - 28 ,421 53,363 81 ,784 A curious feature in this table is the extraordinary preponderance of this branch of domestic industry in Ireland over Scotland. The vast majority of seam- stresses work at home, and with the needle, although the use of the sewing machine is increasing every year. But a machinist must be in a small way a capitalist, and, were it not for this, there is hardly a seamstress in the kingdom, who would not possess one out of the many machines which are candidates for public fame. Where the industry is carried on in large wholesale houses, the machining is usually done at the factory (as we may call it), while the finishing is given out to the home worker. In a shirt, for instance, the front, collar band, and wristband are generally machined in the factory, and then the portions are given out to be put together, as well as the buttons sewn on, the button-holes made, and so on. With most of the wholesale clothiers, an industrious seamstress (and a machinist always) can make good wages of from 12s. to 20s. per week; it is in the domestic phase that we find the miserable pay and intense labour, which the first Thomas Hood so pathetically described SEAMSTRESSES. 153 in his “Song of the Shirt.” It is, however, a mistake to always assume that, the cheaper the work, the less remunerative is it to the worker; for, as a rule, seamstresses prefer to have a cheap article to make (when paid by the piece), because they can make more by them than by a higher-priced one, which takes more time to complete and demands more care. Some sewers lay themselves out for a certain class of work, such as shirts, collars, stays, neckties, braces; but, as a general rule, I fear that the statement made in Mr. Lord’s Report, as long ago as 1864, will stand for the present day. “It appears that in the worst paid branches of needlework, except perhaps brace making, a woman of average ability and industry earns from 48. to 6s. a week, if she is well supplied with work, reckoning the day at twelve hours, with time for meals. In trades of this class, home work is usually the least profitable, partly because more time is wasted, partly because the cheapest kind of work is most readily trusted out of the employer's custody. The result is, that less is earned in long hours at home, than in short hours in a work-room.” Button- holing, for instance, is a kind of work which is very unequally paid. In respectable houses, 3s. 8d. per gross is given, or 11d. for three dozen ; but under the sweat- ing system, the poor seamstress has been known to get only 5d. for three dozen. From frequent reports in the public papers, we obtain a knowledge of the shameful way in which many of the workwomen are treated. One in particular, which occurred this very year (1876), was as follows. For five weeks the workers 154 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. had been paid by a certain firm 4s. 6d. per dozen for embroidering skirts, which in the busy season would bring up their earnings to 26s, or 28s. per week, but on the average of the year only to 9s. or 10s. At the end of this time, they were suddenly mulcted of 4s., 5s., and 68. Severally, for the same work, on the plea that a mistake had been made as to the previous prices. It is satisfactory to record, that the delinquents were made to pay up promptly. I am afraid that such cases are by no means solitary. It is also stated that from 10d. to 1s. 4d. Only are prices commonly paid for machining throughout one of the holland costumes sold at from 12s. to 14s.” VI. MINOR TRADES IN DRESS. I have only space to allude to a few of the less important (numerically) industries in dress, although collectively, the number of those engaged in what may be called the decorations of apparel is very large. Artificial flower making (in the Census oddly placed under the head of carving and figures) numbered 4886, of whom 1740 were under, and 3146 above twenty years of age. It is one of the “season" trades, being exceedingly brisk twice a year for three or four months, about the spring and fall, and stagnant in the intervals. The majority of flower makers work at home or in small shops, there being, according to the Factory Returns, only thirteen factories, employing 1098 fe- males. The routine of the occupation consists in cutting out from the material, whatever it may be, * “Women’s Union Journal,’ 1876. MINOR TRADES IN DRESS. 155 sixteen folds at a time, by a hand stamp; colouring the leaves or petals with green, blue, or crimson, by a small brush; passing fine wires through the centre of each piece; twisting the thread round the wire to form the stalk; “goffering” the petals to make them curl: gumming, waxing, and dusting with potato flour, to represent bloom, or powdered glass for frost. Light and easy as the work looks, it has many sanitary draw- backs, apart from the small, close rooms in which the work is usually carried on. The children's fingers are cut by the wires and the silk, so as to cause minute sores. A great deal of impalpable colour dust is fre- quently floating about the room, which may or may not be extremely unwholesome. Scheele's green (an arsenite), and sulphate of copper (verdigris blue), were formerly much in vogue, and gave rise to many anomalous disorders, arising from contact with poisonous Substances; but these colouring appliances are now used much less than they were. A more common evil is the mischief caused to the eyes, familiar to oculists as resulting in chronic inflammation of the eyelids or the form of weak sight, called asthenopia. This is par- ticularly the case when white flowers are made by gas- light. The earnings of artificial flower makers vary very much, according to their age, the state of the trade, and the character of the shop in which they work. In 1871, women earned 148, per week; girls, 4s. ; and boys, 58., where the work was carried on in factories; but at the present time the average wages of a skilful worker in busy times will be from 20s, to 25s. ; while a girl, of from thirteen to fifteen, learning the trade, can make 2s. 6d. to 38. 6d. or 4s. 6d., though for the 156 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. first six months they seldom earn more than 1s. per week. The value of artificial flowers imported, principally from France, during the last ten years, was : £ fº 1866 ... .. 293,306 1871 ... ... 367, 186 1867 . . . . 304, 440 1872 . . . . 411, 540 1868 . . . . 341, 176 1873 . . . . 449,320 1869 . . . . 365,407 1874 ... .. 447,051 1870 . . . . 266, 502 1875 ... .. 510,800 Feather dressers, all of whom are females, numbered 1150, of whom 490 were under, and 660 above, twenty. The work is light, consisting principally in clipping and twisting the ostrich feathers (when they are from that source), scraping the quills, sewing pieces together, curling and mounting. As the material is valuable, there is little or no domestic labour, but everything is carried on in the work-rooms of wholesale houses. A large amount of Ornamental feathers are annually imported into this country, that for 1875 being: Quantity. Value. lbs. :9. Belgium ... . . . . . 3,475 15,333 France * | 131, 534 237, 518 Egypt .. 26,665 50,229 Tripoli ... . . 4,041 14,853 Morocco . . . . . . . 4, 173 19,641 Argentine . . . . . . . 10,678 8,422 Malta. . . . . . . . . . 4,722 9,441 South Africa. . . . . . 53,992 293,866 India. . . . . . . . . 27,043 37,197 Other countries . . . . . 29,387 26,699 | | Total ... .. 296,010 || 713,199 MINOR TRADES IN DRESS. 157 It will be observed that the greatest value arises from the ostrich feathers of the Cape of Good Hope. The umbrella trade gives employment to a con- siderable number of persons, viz.: |Under 20. Above 20. Total. Males . . . . 539 2552 3091 Females . . . . 895 1909 - 2804 Total . . . . . 1434 4461 5895 | . There is a somewhat curious localization of this trade, or at all events a portion of it, in the neighbourhood of Stroud, where a colony of workers is employed in making umbrella and parasol sticks and handles. The industry consists of cutting and shaping the sticks, which are mostly of beech or ash, turning and cutting the bone tips and handles with circular saws and drills, polishing, and varnishing with naphtha, methylated spirit, and shell-lac. The women in the trade are occu- pied in preparing the whalebones, and in the ordinary processes of sewing the silk, or of whatever material the umbrella is made. In the preparation of the sticks, as also of walking-sticks, the outside is sometimes charred, the workmen using an open coke stove, and in these cases they are liable to suffer from the effects of the carbonic oxide disengaged. The value of um- brellas and parasols exported in 1875 amounted to 356,467!., of which Bengal and Burmah took by far the greater part. Australia, Japan, the Straits Settle- ments, and the Philippine Islands are also large Customers. 158 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. The following are the statistics of our clothing and dress trade as regards value of exports: 7- Apparel and T | year. *g. Hºmº £ f 1866 2,871,308 5,396,775 1867 2,205,991 4,431,492 1868 2,313,589 4,479, 158 1869 2,392,317 4,584,955 IS70 2,205,255 4,813,023 1871 2,707,499 5,901,979 1872 3, 112,452 6,640,827 1873 3,437,410 6,597,257 1874 3,200,853 6, 140,460 1875 3, 185,325 4,992,420 Of apparel and slops Australia takes the most, fol- lowed in degree by North America, South Africa, and Egypt. For haberdashery and millinery our best customers are Australia, North America, the United States, South Africa, the Argentine Republic, and the West Indies. ( 159 ) CEIAPTER IX. LEATHER, ROPES, AND INDIA-RUBBER. T. LEATHER. THE number of persons engaged in the tanning and curriers' trades is very considerable, though the female proportion is but small. According to the Census tables they were— Fellmongers. - Tanners. Curriers. Total. | England . . . . . 2,017 8,624 14,204 24,845 Scotland . . . . 684 768 1,347 2,799 Ireland . . . . 39 574 722 1,335 Total . . . . . 2,740 || 9,966 | 16,273 |sº The great bulk of these men work in separate esta- blishments, for tanning and currying are trades which are scattered throughout the country towns : nor are many young people employed in them. According to Mr. Sparke Evans, the country tanneries are becoming more and more scarce, and large numbers have been closed within the last few years. The Factory Returns give the following statement of associated workers: ºlººlººlº- tº England .. 50 18 614 || 4,622 390 5,644 Scotland .. I & ſº 7 117 II. 135 Ireland 2 20 239 48 307 Total ... 53 18 641 |ºns 449 |60s, 160 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Mr. Collins, in his interesting article on Leather and Hides,” has shown us the sources from whence come the different skins, and also the numerous semi- chemical processes employed in tanning them. The principal stages of the operation are the cleansing and dressing of the hides, the tanning proper by immersing the hides in pits, and subjecting them to various chemical influences, tawing (where the method of preparing leather is by the action of salts of alumina), shamoying, or oil tanning, &c., besides many sub- sidiary processes, such as enamelling, stamping, dye- ing, and varnishing the different kinds of leather after they have emerged from the tannery. Machinery, though as yet of no great extent, is coming more and more into use, and is employed in expressing the grease, washing, and, above all, splitting—a most inge- nious process, by which a sheepskin can be split into four, by a knife which moves backwards and forwards a thousand times per minute. I have not been able to ascertain whether any one of the processes in tanning or currying is particu- larly unsanitary, although, as everybody knows, they are unsavoury ; but the Registrar-General, in his Supplemental Report, 1875, remarks that these opera- tives are healthy up to forty-five, and then show signs of suffering. The health of tanners, indeed, is pro- verbially good, as most of the work is done in the open air or sheds; were it otherwise, it is probable that the ammonia and Sulphuretted hydrogen given off would be very prejudicial. Curriers, however, who * * British Manufacturing Industries.’ LEATHER. 161 work in close, gas-heated rooms, are decidedly more The mortality tables were unfavourably situated. (1871): Total. 5– |- is-la-a-a-a-lº-'ºs- 75 Fellmongers . . 36 l 1 5 5 || 9 || 6 || 4 || 5 Tanners .. ... 161 3 2 18 22 22 37 38 19 Curriers . . . . 275 8 15 38 48 36 51 50 29 . | | | and the mortality per classes: cent. as compared with all Tanners and Curriers All classes 15– 20– 25— 35— 45— 55— 65– 75 282 555 '878 1.394 | 1949 3-548' 8-113 | 13.900 • 632 859 985 I 305 1 853 || 3 - 215 6' 676 16 - 584 The operatives in this trade usually earn good wages; according to the Factory Returns in 1871: Skinners tº e Shearers and finishers Curriers º Japanners Finishers Tanners Boys Jobbers Dyers .. Wool-rag dresser Women Sewing skins Mechanics .. 38s, per week. 37s. 33s. 32s. 23s. 23s. Ils. 21s. 24s. 24s. 10s. 31s. 6d. At the present (1876), the average wages of tanners in the country are 228, per week; but in London, about 27s. Curriers earn 35s. M 162 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. The imports and exports of the leather trade are very important. The exports of hides, tanned and untanned, for the decade were: Year. Quantities. Value CW t S. f 1S66 1,133,131 3,356,969 1867 975, 168 3,098,800 1868 1,033,753 3,636,592 1869 954, 120 3,311,000 1870 1,302,232 4,601,657 1871 1,447,898 5,035,613 IS72 1,679, 108 6,701,686 IS73 1,621,676 6,700,661 1874. 1,538,079 6,831,432 1875 1,583,905 7,017,413 and the number of skins as follows: Sheep and Sheep and •l Year. jº. gº Or Seal. gº gº & ressed). 1866 4,300,968 1,831,139 || 513,671 978,096 || 2,162,054 1867 4,359,389 2,392,597 || 743,511 848,951 2,435,820 1868 4,573,815 2,267,053 |780,477 874,139 2,579,341 1869 4,402,650 2,822,095 | 736,336 797,603 || 3,051,995 1870 6,004,944 2,963,608 || 731,913 848,631 3,088,341 1871 8,460,328 2,156,979 |833,709 | 1,057,712 || 4,035,978 1872 8,219,014 || 2,824,072 657,697 | 1,132,054 4,605,266 1873 8,363,736 || 3,760,619 |876,077 | 1,358,895 5,456,709 1874 6,559,311 || 3,628,998 |755,005 1,436,288 5,506,678 1875 7,165,342 4,913,696 |629,723 1,397.225 5,393,504 The imports of the foreign tanning (chemical) materials will be found under the head of dye stuffs at p. 130, consisting principally of valonia, or the R OPES AND CORDAGE. 163 dried acorn cup of the Quercus ægilops, shumach, or the twigs of the Rhus coriaria, cutch, or the extract of the heart-wood of the Acacia catechu, and gambier, or an extract from the Uncaria gambir. The dry hides (not tanned) come principally from Bengal, Holland, South Africa, the United States, and Brazil; the wet ones from Uruguay, the United States, the Argentine, and Australia ; the tanned hides from the United States, Madras, and Australia; the tawed hides from France and America. The annual value of the tanning substances employed is 4,500,000l. The exports of leather (unwrought) principally to Germany and France were: Year. Quantities. Walue. CW ts. f 1866 38,900 438, 170 I867 44,840 428,233 1868 64,083 577,669 1869 91,246 765,620 1870 103,788 S50,495 1871 139,881 1, 136,784 I872 139,019 1,220,981 1873 116,445 1,048,909 1874. 148,246 1,319,363 1875 168,147 1,495,831 II. ROPES AND CoRDAGE. Properly speaking, this subject should come under that of the fibrous materials, such as jute, flax, and others; but the occupation differs in so many details, at I include it here. Rope making gives employ- M 2 164 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. ment to a great number of people, according to the Census: Males. Females. Total. England . . . . 10,294 1,401 11,695 Scotland . . . . 2,353 351 3,704 Ireland to 6 - a 986 31 1,017 Total .. 13,633 1,783 15,416 and many young boys are brought up to the trade, as shown by the ages table : 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 102 || 1702 * 856 1745 1643 1385 882 543 199 The Factory Returns give the numbers at: Males No. Of Children up to 18. T Factories. under 13. Above 18. Females. | Total. England .. 14 245 352 508 191 1296 Scotland .. 7 7 145 1]. I 47 310 Ireland 3 g 58 120 * * 178 Total 739 238 1784. 2 4. 2 5 2 5 5 5 showing that rope making is more of a domestic than a factory industry. Mr. P. L. Simmons has told us, in his article upon Fibres and Cordage,” of the numer- ous materials that have been used of late years for the * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ ROPES AND CORDA GE. 165 purposes of rope manufacture. The chief places where roperies of any extent are found are London, Man- chester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Warrington, Bristol, and Bridport, although they may exist in any place where the requisite room for a rope-walk can be ob- tained. The differences, however, between a country rope-walk, where everything is done by hand, and a large town establishment where machinery is every- thing, are so great, as almost to make them separate trades. In factories like the latter, the hemp is heckled and spun into yarn on the premises, in one continuous operation, and machinery is also employed in forming the strands of the ropes made of Manilla hemp ; though for those of Russian hemp, hand-work is still used. The operations of hemp heckling and dressing are dusty ones, and when care is not taken to divert the dust into a current of air, will produce very unpleasant consequences. Dr. Richardson thus speaks of it in his ‘Lectures on Unhealthy Occupations’: * “The quantity of dust lost in hemp dressing may be inferred from the fact, that for every 112 lbs. weight of hemp employed, there is a loss of 4 lbs. This dust produces a most severe irritation, which, however, is purely bronchial, attended with painful expectoration and strangling cough. Russian and Polish hemp will produce these effects. Neapolitan hemp does the same, and something more. In the dust of the Nea- politan hemp there is distributed a peculiar odorous substance, the dust of some vegetable or grass, the inhalation of which causes shortness of breath, con- * “Society of Arts Journal,’ Jan. 1876. 166 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. striction of the throat, and spasmodic cough in recurrent paroxysms, which continue for many hours after the inhalation ceases. For the sake of expe- riment, I obtained a specimen of this hemp, and after shaking it in a large bottle, I inhaled the dust, when the symptoms induced were immediate. Even dress- ing the hemp does not remove this substance, for the symptoms are common to the spinners of the hemp after it is dressed, although they work in the air.” Bridport, in Dorsetshire, is a great locality for hand spinning of twine and string, the spinner walking slowly backwards, facing the wheel, to draw out the fibres from the wheel which twists them. When some twines have been twisted, the spinner walks briskly forward to the wheel, laying them together, for which purpose the wheel is turned very quickly. The spin- ners are mostly women, and the turners children. “Combing” requires more strength, the work being to break off a handful of fibre from a hank, and draw it with the hand between the teeth of a comb. The combers, who are usually men, but sometimes boys, work standing, with the right knee bent inwards, and the foot outwards, causing a deformity in the case of growing lads. Beyond the points which I have men- tioned, and the inclemency of the weather to which the spinners are subject, except in Scotland, where all rope-walks are covered in, I am not aware of any other unsanitary conditions of the trade. The mor- tality of the occupation is thus given by the Registrar- General (1871): RO PES AND CORDAGE. 167 | . . . . . . | Total. 5– 10– 15-20-25-35- 45– sºlº- is Hemp . . . . #| |x|, |x||. 3|.. 8, 2 Ropes . . . 207 . . . 7 5 ** 37 *** ! | and the mortality per cent. : i f | | l 15– 20- 25- 85- 46- sº- 65- is ! | ; - - i | | Ropes ... ... '403 : 613 7601-1032-3014:18 7:863.17.638 º 676 16° 584 I All classes .. º 1-3051853 3-215 X- | The legislation especially affecting rope makers, dates from 1846 (9 & 10 Vic. c. 40), when the Rope- walks Exemption Act was passed, declaring that hand- rope makers did not come under the factory laws. Where machinery is at work, driven by steam power, the walks are now under the Factory Acts, but where hand-making only is in operation, they are under the Workshops Act of 1867, a condition of things which does not altogether please the owners. One of the witnesses before the Factory and Workshops Acts Commission stated: “In 1867 I manufactured 3192 dozens of a certain class of twine, and to show the influence which the Act of that year had, I had fallen in 1868, to 2803; in 1869, to 2349; in 1870, to 2306; in 1871, to 2276; in 1872, to 2219; in 1873, to 1942; and in 1874, to 1688. The Act has made labour so much dearer, that foreigners cut us out, and, in fact, I had a man from France the other day, who offered 168 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. me hand-spun twines at a less price than I could produce them at.” The wages of rope making, which is generally a well-paid trade, are as follows: 1871. Rope-yarn hand spinners ... .. 23s, to 27s. per week. Twine spinners, men . . . . . . ... 30s. 3) 53 boys . . . . . . .. 5s. 3) Machine spinners, men . . . . . . . . 24s. , 33 boys . . . . . . . . 9s. , 22 WOmen . . . . . . 7s. 32 Machine rope makers, men . . . . . . 22s. , 37 75 lads ... .. 5s. to 15s. , Warehousemen & 22s. 35 Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . 288. " Our imports of hemp were as follows: Year. Quantity. Value. CW'tS. aft 1866 996,219 1,713,277 1867 869,571 1,634,965 1868 1,046, 135 2,055,481 1869 1,022,110 1,907,959 1870 1,079,608 2,034,326 1871 1,245,019 2,267,571 1872 1,115,946 2,111,240 1873 1,252,515 2,321,706 1874 1,236,475 2, 190,224 1875 1,321,559 2,214,666 the dressed hemp coming principally from Germany and Italy; the rough or undressed, from Rome, the Philippine Islands, and Italy, which last country also sends us most of the tow or codilla from hemp. The exports of cordage and twine were : INDIA-R UBB ER. 169 Year. Quantity. Value. . C.W. fs. | f I866 149,222 412,729 1867 112,305 317,621 1868 115,038 330,300 1S69 116, 165 329,365 I870 126,764 354,355 IS71 131,382 366,365 I872 139,180 403, 119 IS73 120,485 359,643 1874 128,722 361,282 IS75 111,232 306,945 of which North America and Australia take the greatest portion. III. INDIA-RUBBER. The numbers engaged in the india-rubber and gutta- percha manufactures are not large, being, in 1871, in England, 3782 males and 892 females. The trade is entirely carried on on the factory system, there being no domestic industry under this head. The Factory Returns give, for— y g | Mr. ºlº ºur- tº England .. 33 II 414 985 2298 || 3708 Scotland .. ($ - 25 388 775 S49 2037 Total ... 39 36 802 1760 3147 5745 Mr. Collins has given us a full account * of the various kinds of india-rubber and gutta-percha, and the modes in which they are manipulated. The chief processes are, the slicing by machinery of the material, * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ 170 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. so as to purify it, deviling, washing, drying, beating, kneading or masticating, and rolling into bands, so as to be qualified for tubing, string, piping, and the thousand and one forms in which rubber or gutta- percha are made useful. “Vulcanizing is effected by immersion in a sulphur bath, by incorporating, by rolling and subjecting to heat, or by Mr. Parkes' cold process, by which its plasticity enables it to be moulded into any form, even with greater facility than wax.” The work is almost entirely carried on by machinery, some of which is sufficiently simple to allow of lads being employed at it; such as rolling and winding waterproof cloth, moulding balls, tieing threads, pressing together the sides of the tubing, pouches, &c. Rolling of the different kinds of machine bands, hose pipes, and steam packing, the punching of mats, and a few other minor things are still done by hand. For insulating submarine telegraph wires, a rather different class of labour is required in manipulating the india- rubber. There appears to be nothing unhealthy in the various branches, except, perhaps, during the “cold” process, in which chloride of sulphur is mixed with bi-sulphide of carbon or naphtha, the result of the decomposition being to generate hydrochloric and sulphurous acids, sulphuretted hydrogen, and probably, chloride of carbon. But this process is confined to a few articles, such as elastic thread; and the men, in addition to working in separate and well-ventilated rooms, generally wear respirators. The use of iodine, chlorine, and bromine has lately been introduced into the manufacture, but as yet no ill effects have arisen from them. INDIA-R UBB ER. . 171 The weekly wages of india-rubber operatives in 1871 were as follows: Skilled workmen ... . . . . 26s. to 603. Ordinary , ... . . . . 16s. , 25s. Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . 12s. , 14s. Women ... . . . . . . . . 9s. , 18s. Threaders (men) ... . . . . 208. , 21s. Mixers 22 ... . . . . 16s. 2, 18s. Vulcanizers , a s e º s p s is 17s. Finishers , e e s s º a sº e 16s. Lathe hands ... . . . . . . 12s. , 148. At present (1876) the wages vary from 20s. to 40s. for adult labour, according to the degree of skill re- quired. Women are employed in the waterproofing branch for sheets, water beds and cushions, as also in small tubing and gas-piping, earning 10s. to 158. Or even 20s. per week, working ordinary factory time, and even more when on piecework. In the insulating branch, adult females earn 9s. to 10s. ; lads, from 8s. to 12s. ; men, about 18s. ; and machine hands, from 16s. to 30s. The imports of caoutchouc and gutta-percha were : CAOUTCHOUC. Year. Quantity. Value. CWtS. f I866 72, 176 728,416 1867 79,756 696,377 1868 145,584 1, 195,226 I869 136,421 1, 134,585 1870 152, 118 1,597,628 1871 161,085 1,684,281 1872 157,114 1,762,259 1873 157,436 1,746,095 1874 129, 163 1,326,605 1875 153,564 1,570,558 172 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. GUTTA-PERCHA. Year. Quantity. Walue. CW ts. f 1866 15, 134 78, 109 1867 15,289 92,945 1868 16,279 91,850 1869 15,398 95,616 1870 34,514 496,951 1871 26,211 199,337 I872 44,597 399,955 1873 54,898 479,316 I874 29,970 299,522 1875 19,627 149,223 Brazil, Bengal, and the West Coast of Africa send us the largest supplies of caoutchouc; and the Straits Settlements of gutta-percha. F O O D M A P Agricultural land. | ] Pastoral … [ ] WREAT Stockton C1 Stamfºrd of Channe ^ * 3 *A*" ºr *… £ 3. ** * - 4. London: Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, S.W. Swºrds Geowººmbº Iondon ( 173 ) CEIAPTER X. FOOD INDUSTRIES. By far the largest industrial proportion of our popu- lation appears to be occupied directly or indirectly with the feeding of the country; but beyond laying before my readers a table of their numbers, I shall describe only a few of the principal employments, as the great division of agriculture, with all the statistics of land and produce, is quite sufficient to fill a volume of its own. Statement : The Census of 1871 gives the following * ENGLAND. SCOTLAND. IRELAND. Total. Male. |Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. LAND. Fº and gra". 225,569| 24,338 48,399, ºil |392.251 81,391 128,762 Farmers’ sons, &c. 76,466 92,187 63,247,114,072 16,473| 72,802 435,247 Farm bailiffs 16,476 - - 2,9].5 tº e l36 - - 19,527 Labourers .. 764,574, 33,513 || 70,924; 22,174 || 174,670. 17,741|1,083,596 Shepherds .. 23,323. . . 8,352} . . 1,953 . . 33,628 Farm servants ... 134,157 24,599 || 40,115 20,615 270,059| 45,321| 534,866 GARDENS. Nurserymen . . 5,113 382 719 126 283 42 6,665 Gardeners . . 95,829| 2,240 7,926 154 8,664 94; 114,907 ANIMALS. * Cattle salesmen. . 5,836 . 953 . . 4,118 23 10,930 Drovers & 2,950; . . 200, .. 402} . . 3,552 Gamekeepers 12,429. . . 3,505. . . 976. . . 16,910 Fishermen .. 20,679 364 26,267 1,029 9,438 10S 57,885 Carried forward |1,383,401;177,623 * 879,423, 167,5223,046,475 174 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. ! ENGLAND. SCOTLAND. IRELAND. - ! Total. Male. |Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. ANIMAL FOOD. cº forward 1,383,401;177,623 273,519 164,987 879,423 isiºns 475 ow keepers =a^l |- 3. Milksellers e 16,441. 4,117 1,590; 1,722 1,662 1,096 26,628 Cheesemongers . . 4,249 4.25 147 39 722, 1,541 7,123 Butchers & 72,682| 3,165 5,544 175 6,938 401 88,905 Provision dealers 8,771; 4,465 1,214 735 2,208 866 18,259 Poulterers • * 2,696 689 166 36 692 27] 4,550 Fishmongers 12,646 2,234 || 1,278; 785 1,112 910 18,965 VEGETABLE FOOD. Corn dealers . . 11,964 801 1,741 48 || 1,538 52| 16,144 Millers tº º 29,720 340 3,607 20 3,925 61 37,673 Bakers e a º º 52,733| 6,333 || 11,786 906 8,664 392 80,814 Confectioners .. 9,387 | 7,601 1,363; 1,133 475 852. 20,811 Greengrocers 18,983; 6,836 859 863 611| 1,909| 30,061 DRINKS. Maltsters . . . . 10,274 s & 845 I 685 11,805 Brewers . . . . 25,562 269 1,306 24 640 6 27,807 Wine merchants 10,576 393 608 59 1,156 115|| 12,907 Cellarmen . . . . 3,205 . . 817 | . . 201 e 4,223 Aérated water manufacturers } 2,410} . . I99 7 | 164] . 2,780 MISCELLANEOUS. Sugar refiners 2,781| . . 950 I 36|| . . 3,768 Grocers . . . . 88,598 22,496 || 13,933, 5,117 || 9,089| 2,232| 141,465 Tobacco 10,115; 4,252 1,337 427 1,374 96 17,601 Total . . . . litias, 242,039 *we: 921,315|| 178,3223,618,764 To this large body must be added those who cater for the public in inns and hotels, viz.: Innkeepers and publicans Beersellers . . Boarding - house keepers . . . . Coffee-bouse ditto Total . . . . ENGLAND. SCOTLAND. IRELAND. | ~ || Total. Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. | | 61,158 || 15,891 1,923 || 1,002 || 6,067 2,096 || 88,137 13,209 3,152 || 3,828 822 48 34 21,093 3,840 22,092 316 8,238 4.17 2,104 37,007 3,305 2,147 147 3.18 21 45 5,983 * 43,282 6,214 10,380 6,553 4,279 |* PREAD AND BISCUITS. 175 which, including 2554 workers in salt mines, brings the sum total up to 3,833,457. In round numbers, at the present time, we may estimate that four and a half million persons are engaged in providing our daily food, irrespective of foreign sources and supplies. The industrial preparation of food, putting aside agri- cultural pursuits, occupies but a small proportion of this great army, the major part consisting of purveyors and shopkeepers. I. BREAD AND BISCUITs. The preparation of bread, as the staff of life, demands our first consideration amongst food in- dustries. From the preceding table, we perceive that the bakers in the three kingdoms amounted to 80,814, of whom nine-tenths were males; indeed, the art of baking, except in a domestic sense, is almost entirely a man's occupation. The ages of those engaged in the trade are placed in the English Census at : Total. 5–| 10– | 15— 20– 25— 35— 45— 55— 65— | 75 Males ... 52,733 || 9 |2, 3 l 3|8,6707,550 Females .. 6,333 || 1 2 2 11,5938, 32| 749| 644 782 º 855. º 7 ! 24, 3012, 174 614 67 , 1 9| 241 The process of baking is so far different from other industrial processes, that there are seldom any divisions of labour in the trade, although there are several stages to be gone through. The same man (or set of men) carries out the whole operation, and few classes of opera- tives are harder worked. The first stage, as Mr. Manley 176 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. tells us, in his article on Bread,” is to prepare the ferment to add to the flour; the second, the making or stirring of the “sponge,” which takes about half an hour of careful and continuous manipulation. At midnight, for it must be remembered that while other people are sleeping, bakers are most active, the rest of the dough is made and thoroughly kneaded. At 3 A.M. the dough is commenced to be moulded for the oven, for which it is ready between 4 and 5 A.M., and the baking is concluded between 6 and 7, when the bread is “drawn.” This, with variations, arising from the different kinds of bread required, is the nightly routine of thousands of operatives employed throughout the kingdom in bakeries of any importance, and especially those of our large towns, for in the country towns and villages there is not the same pressing demand for the matutinal supply of hot bread and rolls, and the baker can therefore choose his own time for work. By a curious anomaly, bakers are not placed under the usual supervision of Factory or Workshops Acts, but are regulated by a law of their own. As long ago as 1848, certain grievances were complained of by those in the trade, and the subject was brought before the Houses of Parliament, who ordered an inquiry to be made into it. A committee of the House had made a report in 1815, recommending the abolition of the Bread Assize, under the impression that, by so doing, persons of capital would be attracted to the trade, and that consequently there would be a diminution of the waste of labour and unnecessary subdivision of profits. * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ BREAD AND BISC U/TS. 177 As a matter of fact, these hopes were not fulfilled, for, with a few notable exceptions, the trade is still distributed amongst a number of small bakers. An inquiry took place, and a report issued in 1862 by Mr. Tremenheere, the result being, the passing of the Bakehouses Regulation Act of 1863 (26 & 27 Wic. c. 40), which prohibited the employment of young persons under eighteen in a bakehouse between 9 P.M. and 5 A.M., and also the use, as a sleeping place, of any room on the same level with the bakehouse, except under certain provisions of ventilation. The state of things revealed by the inquiry was eminently unsatis- factory. The ordinary routine of night-work allows of some short period of time intervening after “making the dough,” which the journeyman baker occupies in getting a little sleep, and, as the most convenient place, he selects the kneading board, which is also the cover- ing of the trough in which the dough is made, upon which, with a sack under him and another for his pillow, he sleeps the sleep of the just. The surround- ings of the bakehouses, at the time of Mr. Tremen- heere's visitation, were exceedingly bad. “The principal fact, for which I certainly was not prepared, was their extreme dirt, and in many cases the almost total cover- ing of the entire space between the rafters with masses of cobwebs, weighed down with the flour dust that had accumulated upon them, and hanging in strips just above one’s head. A heavy tread or a blow upon the floor beneath, brought down large fragments of them; and as the rafters immediately over the troughs are as thickly hung with them as any other part of the bake- N 178 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. house, masses of these cobwebs must be continually falling into the dough. The rafters were usually black with the sulphurous exhalations from the ovens, while animals, such as beetles, cockroaches, &c., in consider- able numbers crawled in and out of and upon the troughs where the bread was made, and upon the adjoining walls.” “ When bread was hand-kneaded, as was the rule, “it is necessary,” states a witness in the evidence, “to do the work forcibly, in order to prevent the dough getting cold; this causes men to get into a very great heat, and the perspiration naturally drops into the dough. I don’t believe that a batch of bread is anywhere made without this happening.” It is hard to say, in the face of these facts, which was most to be pitied, the baker who passed his time and did his work under such unsavoury conditions, or the public, which, in happy ignorance, was thus condemned to eat its daily peck of dirt. It took some little time, after the passing of the Act, for the local authorities, whose business it was to administer it, to see that the clauses of the Act were enforced; and at the present day it is satisfactory to think that the greater portion of the bakeries are in, at all events, a moderately clean state. The use of ma- chinery, as Mr. Manley has told us, such as Stephens' machine, has not proved generally successful, neither have the attempts to start large co-operative bakeries. As regards wages (1876), the men who work for the small retail baker earn, as a rule, about 268, per week, with perquisites, such as a loaf of bread per day, sack * Report relating to Journeymen Bakers, 1862. JBREAD AND BISCUITS. 179 money, and commission on yeast. The average time of commencing work is 11 P.M.; and after the bread is delivered to the out-door customers, and the dinners baked, he finishes his labour about 2 P.M. In large bakeries, however, such as that of Mr. Nevill, where 105 journeymen are employed, the baker gets about 30s., without perquisites, for a given amount of toil, overtime frequently amounting to 17s a week. Here he begins work at 7 P.M. and leaves off at 8 or 9 A.M. As a rule, the men employed in the large establish- ments are far superior in steadiness and cleanly habits to those in the retail shops. That the trade of a baker is very much more favourably conducted than heretofore, is also proved by the statement of the Registrar-General, that “bakers experience a mortality very little above the average, and that is chiefly at advancing ages.” The table of mortality is as follows (1871): 75 35– 45– 55– 65– Total. 5– º 15— 20– 25– ===, sº- . t | * a to a 28 ! 404 | .. 16 34 ! | and as compared with all classes: is- 20– 25- 85- 45– 55- 65— 75 ——— ! Bakers ... .. ºstratiºn, who'oſs All classes ... 632. * **** 16° 584 | | Biscuit baking has of late years become one of the most renowned of English industries; not that there N 2 180 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. are so many firms employed in this branch, but that those which there are have facilities for turning out such large supplies of biscuits. The operatives are included under the head of bakers, so that there is no means specially of separating them ; but when we know that Messrs. Huntley and Palmer employ over 2000 hands, and Messrs. Peek and Frean nearly as many, it gives us some idea of the magnitude of the trade, which has secured for itself a solid footing, not only in Great Britain, but over all the world, from Japan to the Cape of Good Hope. Machinery is a great feature in these large factories, and particularly in the matter of travelling ovens, worked by slowly moving rollers, so that the biscuits and cakes are placed at one end and delivered at the other, in about twenty minutes, ready baked. The manufacture of ship biscuits is another very important branch of the baking trade. The following table is one of the imports of our corn, flour, and yeast : QUANTITY. Year. Wheat. Flour of Wheat. Dried Yeast. CWtS. CWtS. CWts. 1866 23, 156,329 4,972,280 114,064 1867 34,645,569 3,592,969 116,262 1868 32,639,768 3,093,022 116,133 1869 37,695,828 5,401,555 120,912 1870 30,901,229 4,803,909 128,641 1871 39,389,803 3,977,939 133,741 1872 42,127,726 4,388,136 140,191 1873 43,863,098 6,214,479 147,226 1874 41,527,638 6,236,044 153,811 1875 51,876,517 6,136,083 162,525 SAD. T. 181 VALUE. Year. Wheat. Flour of Wheat. Dried Yeast. f º f 1866 12,983,090 3,796,911 234,426 1867 24,985,096 3,519,577 242,316 1868 22,069,353 2,832,077 231,719 1869 19,515,758 3,792,939 246,344 1870 16,264,027 3,383,751 286,097 1871 23,318,883 3,498,008 333,722 1872 26, 169,185 4,087,639 347,689 1873 28,538,746 5,849,852 374,347 1874 25,236,932 5,685,076 396,074 1875 27,510,469 4,870,257 401,985 The United States send us by far the greatest quan- tity of corn, followed at a considerable interval by the northern and southern ports of Russia, Germany, and North America. Most of the wheat flour comes from the States and from France, and the yeast from Holland and Germany. II. SALT. The number of persons employed in working this very necessary article of food is stated at 2554 males and 141 females, of whom the greater portion are engaged in Salt making—a very different kind of occupation to that of Salt mining, and one which pre- vails partly in Cheshire (Winsford, Over, Northwich, &c.), and partly in Worcestershire (Droitwich and Stoke). According to the report of Mr. Dickinson,” in * “Coal Mines Inspectors’ Reports’ for 1875. 182 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. whose district the Cheshire Salt mines are situated (for it must be remembered that salt mines are placed for legislative purposes under the Metalliferous Mines Act), there are at present ten rock-salt mines in work at Northwich and one at Winsford, employing a total of 397 persons, of whom 333 were underground and 64 above ground. This is an increase on the numbers given by Mr. Manley in his article on Salt,” who gives a total of 286, viz. 266 underground, besides some 20 men called “ferryers,” who assist when rock salt is being sent out. To a certain extent, salt mining is like all other mining, and liable to the same classes of accidents; but the salt strata are, as a rule, very free from carbonic acid, so that that dread visitant of coal mines, firedamp, is but rarely met with. Mr. Manley tells us “that the men look healthy; and as a proof of the usual purity and coolness of the air, butchers’ meat will keep good in the mine for weeks even in the hottest time in summer.” Neither is salt making, or the evaporation of the salt from the brine springs, of an unhealthy character, though', the appearance of the salt pans at Droitwich and Winsford is eminently disagreeable, they being usually shrouded in an atmosphere of dense steam. As the operatives work constantly in the midst of this and at a very high temperature, one would naturally suppose it to be unsanitary, but the fact is, that the Salt acts as a sort of antiseptic, and preserves the workers from colds and rheumatism to a remarkable extent. * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ S.A.L.T. - 183 The ages of the salt workers are given in the Census tables as follows: 5– 10– 15– 20– 25– 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 I 64 250 || 322 || 644 || 533 383 * 96 || 25 while the mortality for 1871 is at the low rate of 37. The modus operandi of salt making from brine is simple, and consists of pumping the latter from the pits into cisterns or reservoirs, from which it flows into the evaporating pans, the process being effected by heat from the boilers or from coal furnaces. It is during this evaporation that this dense steam is given off, so hot that the operatives work in an almost semi-nude condition. After the salt is ready, it is “drawn,” or brought to the side of the pan with a rake, and then taken out to be dried and stoved. Women are not much employed in the Salt making; and though some are still to be found at Droitwich, their labour is getting less and less in request. As regarding wages, Mr. Manley tells us that salt boilers are paid by the ton, and that a man in full work can earn 30s, to 35s. a week for making fine salt, after paying his assistants, who help him to draw, dry, and warehouse it. The Salt maker is a contractor on a small scale, with whom the proprietor of the works deals, leaving him to find his own helpers. At present there are fifty firms in Cheshire using brine, two in Staffordshire (Weston-on- Trent), and two in Worcestershire, viz. the Droitwich 184 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Salt Company, and Mr. Corbett, M.P., who has very large salt works at Stoke. The number of salt pans has been gradually increasing, viz.: No. No. of Pans. of Pans. 1867 . . . . . . 752 1872 . . . . . . 1148 1868 . . . . . . 805 1873 . . . . . . 1169 1869 . . . . . . 846 1874 . . . . . . 1198 1870 . . . . . . 107S 1875 . . . . . . 1261 1871 . . . . ... 1092 1876 . . . . . . 1311 and according to the Mine Inspectors' Reports, the yield of rock salt in 1875 was 158,044 tons from Cheshire, and 33,075 tons from Ireland (Carrickfergus); total, 191,119 tons, irrespective of the white salt made from brine, which amounted to 1,779,000 tons. The statistical returns of exports of salt for the decade are: Year. : Quantity. Value. tonS. f 1866 601,440 364,455 1867 724,343 445,941 1S6S 796,903 485,079 IS69 833,187 430,592 1870 764,707 381,888 1871 893,201 467,596 I872 753,581 533,171 1873 840,939 789,054 1874 828, 109 662,393 I875 917,514 676,556 Bengal and Burmah take the largest amounts from us, next to which are the United States, Russia, and North America. TOBACCO. 185 III. ToBACCO. The trade in tobacco, cigar, and snuff making, is a large and increasing one, showing at all events that the efforts of the anti-nicotians to raise a “counterblast" have up to the present time failed. The numbers engaged in 1871 in this manufacture (as also the sale of tobacco) were: - Males. Females. Total. England . . . . 10, 115 4,252 14,367 Scotland . . . . 1,337 427 1,764 Ireland . . . . 1,374 96 1,470 Total . . . . . 12,826 4,775 17,601 The ages of the males were: 5– 10– 15- 20– 25– 35– 45- 55- 65– 75 52 | | | | 6 669 w 1388 249s. 1890 1234 554 217 | º showing a fair proportion of juvenile labour. The Factory Returns of course do not include tobacconists: No. Of Children Males | Factories. under 13. up to 18. Above 18. Females. Total. $ | | England ... 263 231 1,977 3,724 3,270 9,202 Scotland ... 86 343 667 483 411 | 1,904 island . 75 is gº 65 | is ičić Total. 428 592 3,621 4,852 | | | 3,697 º 186 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Tobacco manufacturers are tolerably equally scat- tered over the kingdom, and are to be found in most of our large cities, especially London, Liverpool, Birming- ham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Belfast; and the use of machinery has very considerably increased of late years, as Mr. Dunning has shown us in his article On Tobacco.” The processes which the leaf has to undergo when it arrives at the manufactory are, (1) moistening or damping, so as to render the leaf pliable ; (2) stripping and sorting, a work generally done by girls and women, and involving a certain amount of skilled labour and dexterity; (3) cutting and pressing, usually performed by machinery, which turns out some 200 lbs. of fine “shag” in a single hour; (4) spinning the leaf into “roll,” “twist,” or “pigtail,” which is sometimes done by hand, but of late years, in large manufactories, by machinery. In point of fact, tobacco is spun just like any other tex- tile ; but in point of detail, the machinery differs from other spinning machines “ by a differential traverse movement, the object of which is to lay on the coils at a rate always governed by their own thickness. Of the two moving parts—the twisting apparatus and the coil- ing apparatus—one is always turning more rapidly than the other; and the difference between them can- not be uniform, because of the increasing diameter of the bobbin as it fills, and also because of the slight but unavoidable variation in the thickness of the rope made.”—Dunning. In cigar making, women and girls have been employed only recently, and the labour is one that demands a good deal of manual experience. Till * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ TOBACCO. 187 within the last five or six years, the class of juvenile workers in tobacco factories were of the very lowest order, it being the custom of the trade for the boys to be employed and hired immediately by the journeymen, who received a certain rate per pound for the manufac- tured tobacco, each journeyman finding three boys, who were paid by him and were under his control. It was therefore the interest of the workmen to secure boys at the lowest wage, regardless of character; and so bad was the latter, that in some establishments the boys were regularly searched on leaving the factory.* Although the introduction of machinery, and, let me add, the care taken by the employers to endeavour to raise the status of their workpeople, have very much improved the order of things, tobacco spinners are, as a rule, not a high class of workers; and those of Dublin are described by Dr. Monks (Factory Report, 1875), as “pale and sickly of aspect, constant Smokers or chewers of tobacco, which affects their growth, their physique, and their general health, added to which, their poverty and habits assist in their de- terioration.” There can be no doubt that, even under the most favourable circumstances, the cigar manu- facture is not a healthy one. In the course of drying, the dust and vapour cause oppression of the breathing and dryness of throat, with sometimes giddiness and nausea. These symptoms, according to Dr. Richard- son,t are increased very considerably in snuff making, in which the tobacco leaf is mixed with lime water, salt, floor-dust sweepings occasionally, and also red- * Factory Report, 1870. f ‘Journal of Society of Arts,’ January 1876. 188 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. lead. “Sifting the ‘shorts' is more hurtful than rolling the cigar. The consolation of the workman is, that he becomes accustomed to the poison if he only keeps to the work, and at last gets over the symptoms, though the tolerance of the system, however, is partial only. Those workmen who are disposed to pulmonary consumption suffer readily from the disease ; and in others, of better constitution, less serious, but still serious derangements are manifested, the most common of which are a persistent dyspepsia, and that pale and bloodless condition to which the term anaemia is applied by the physician. Few workmen escape alto- gether these dangers, and not many are able to carry on their business beyond the fortieth year.” The Returns of the Registrar-General for 1871 show the total deaths to be 76, viz.: 45– 55— 65– 25— 35– 75 5— | 10– 15– 20– 2 1 5 is iſ 13 9 7 And it is added, “The tobacconists, snuff and tobacco makers, suffer very much at all the younger ages, indi- cating clearly enough how prejudicial smoking is to young men.” As compared with all classes, the mor- tality per cent. is: 15– 20– 25– 35– 45– 55– 65– 75 | | | Tobacco ... 278 lºsiº 1. 4561 - 566 3.423 5. 780 18:421 All classes .. º sº **** The average weekly earnings of tobacco operatives were, in 1871: * TO BACCO. 189 Cutters ... . . . . . . . . 258. to 35s. Dryers or pan-men . . . . . . 18s. , 30s. Strippers (women) . . . . . . 12s. , 248. 22 (boys) . . . . . . . . 7s. 2, 20s. Spinners . . . . . . . . . . 25s. , 35s. Packers ... . . . . . . . . 15s. 5, 25s. Machine boys . . . . . . . . 5s. , 18s. Cigar makers (best hands) ... 30s. , 40s. Sorters . . . . . . . . 25s. , 30s. Snuff makers and sifters . . . . 21S. , 25s. Girls at machines . . . . . . 8s. Boys at presses . . . . . . . . 48. , 5s. Mr. Dunning tells us that the best cigar makers (men) can earn 60s. per week, but that the average is 25s.; for women, 20s. ; and for skilful cigar girls, 25s.6d., though the average is but 15s. Young girls beginning at 2s. will reach 7s, before the end of their first year, and 10s. Or 12s. before they are out of their apprentice- ship. Tobacco cutters and snuff makers earn from 28s. to 30s., and a skilful spinner, occasionally from 50s. to 60s., though this is rare. Cigar makers are earning (1876) from 40s. to 50s. weekly. The following are the statistics of imports: MANUFACTURED TOBACCO. Year. Quantity. Value. lbs. f IS66 3,171,907 538,695 1867 3,798,995 539,370 1868 3,051,399 558,735 I869 2,472,011 411, 130 I870 3,235,215 488,913 1871 3,852,237 862,236 1872 3,667,585 1,145,150 1873 3,834,199 1,283,538 1874 4,632,581 1,326,001 1875 3,344,607 1,191,607 190 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. UNMANUFACTURED TOBACCO. Year. Quantity. Value. lbs. f I866 54,374,797 2,101,351 1867 57,586,287 1,841,942 1868 49,016,586 1,743,287 1869 52,588,590 1,854,220 1870 45,557,887 1,680,140 1871 73,060,305 2,462,670 1872 45,549,700 1,563,882 1873 81,382,733 2,618,799 1874. 76, 175,215 2,647,618 1875 48,943,559 1,759,967 The United States send us most of our raw tobacco, and, next to them, Holland and the Philippine Islands. Of the various kinds of manufactured tobacco imported in 1875 were : - Snuff 8,397 lbs. Cigars . 1,583,902 , Cavendish . 1,681,598 , Cigarettes 70,710 , Duty is payable as follows: Per 1b. S. d. On unmanufactured, containing 101 bs. º 3 1-8- more of moisture in every 100 lbs. .. R. O. When the moisture is less than 10 lbs. .. 3 6 On snuff, with more than 13 lbs. of moisture 3 9 On snuff, with not more than 13 lbs. º 4 6 moisture e Q e º e e º & tº º On cigars . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 0 On cavendish, of foreign manufacture 4 6 On cavendish, manufactured in bond 4 0 On cigarettes 4 0 B RE WING AND DISTILLING. 191 IV. BREWING AND DISTILLING. The brewing interest is one of the utmost import- ance to the country, not so much on account of the numbers engaged in it, as the enormous amount of capital invested ; and when we come to associate with it, that of the licensed victuallers, it is easy to under- stand what an influence the two together are capable of exerting. The numbers employed in malting and brewing were, according to the Census tables: Maltsters. Brewers. Total. Bngland . . . . 10,274 25,562 35,836 Scotland . . . . 845 1,306 2, 151 Ireland & is ſº & 685 640 1,325 Total . . . . 11,804 27,50s 39,812 Breweries are universal institutions, found in almost every town of any size in the kingdom, although some localities have attracted them more than others. London, of course, has its old-established breweries, the names of which are as household words; such as Truman, Hanbury, and Buxton ; Barclay and Perkins; Meux; Charrington, Head, and Co.; Whitbread; and many others, only one degree less known ; but it is not so easy to understand why Burton-on-Trent, the me- tropolis of bitter beer, should have become the cele- brated place that it is—the true pale ale factory town for all the world. In Kent, again, the centre 192 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. of the hop district, we naturally find more breweries than in any other county in England; while Notting- hamshire has obtained a notoriety for the number and size of its malting establishments. Mr. Pooley has given in detail, in his article on Brewing,” the numerous stages, through which we finally obtain our glass of ale, such as grinding the malt, mashing, boil- ing, cooling, fermenting, cleansing, racking off, and clearing; the grain previously having passed through the maltster's hands, in the operations of steeping, couching, flooring, and kiln-drying. The principal features of our modern breweries appear to be, the gigantic scale on which they are conducted; for in- stance, at Messrs. Truman's there are six mash-tuns, with a total capacity of 700 quarters; while the storage statistics of brewers like those of Allsopp or Bass read like the victualling of a beleaguered city. When we take into consideration the large number of brewers that exist in every large town and the immense number of hands employed in most of our best known breweries, it is difficult not to believe that the Census tables have not underrated them. On this point Mr. Pooley says, “Presuming that one man is able to malt 30 bushels per day, there must be about 12,000 men engaged in the manufacture of malt. In the cultivation of the barley, taking one man to 35 acres, there are employed about 70,000 men. In the cultivation of hops, taking one man to 5 acres, there are employed about 12,000 men. In brewing, assuming that one man is required for every 500 bushels brewed, there must be employed about 135,000 men. There are 144,425 dealers and * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ PREWING AND DISTILLING. 193 retailers of beer in the United Kingdom, many of them employing several hands. So that, taking into consideration all the accessory trades in connection with breweries, including engineers, coopers, &c., there cannot be far short of half a million hands employed in this important industry, and the capital invested must reach the almost fabulous sum of 200 million pounds. The brewing and malting trades yield to the state for duty, licenses, &c., a revenue of about 10 millions.” As regarding those who work in malting houses or breweries there is very little to say, the sanitary con- ditions of the trade being generally excellent. Indeed, the whole physique of a brewer's man testifies to the healthiness of the surroundings. The mortality, however, is somewhat high about the middle periods of life, viz.: Total 1871.] 5– | 10– 15— 20– 25– sºle e-le- 75 Maltsters .. 237 | . . . . , || 3 s 2I is 24 d 54 6S Brewers .. 725 . . . . . | 7 || 34 * lsº 49 This satisfactory hygienic state of the brewing does not extend, unfortunately, to those who are engaged in purveying beer for the public, for they die quicker, and suffer from fatal diseases more than any other body of men, a fact which is attributed by the Registrar- General to the constant sipping of wine or beer at fre- quent intervals without food. Indeed, the deaths of publicans, as compared with other classes, are most marked,” viz.: * Supplement to Thirty-fifth Annual Report, 1875. O 194 BRITISH MANUFACTURING IND USTRIES. Ages. Males. Publicans. 15–25 •727 1 : 003 25–35 •972 1 - 407 35–45 1 2S1 1 ‘981 45–55 I • SI 2 2.797 55–65 3' 154 4 - 228 65–75 6 : 489 7 - 088 75, &c. I6 - 28S 21 034 The statistics of the brewing trade are too voluminous for me to produce in all their fullness, and I can only add some of the most important: Year. Acreage of Barley. Imports. Value. 3 CI'êS. CWtS. f 1867 2,440,242 5,684,956 2,833,563 1868 2,348,068 7,476,490 3,799,752 1869 2,483,277 8,053,769 3,379,877 1870 2,623,752 7,217,369 2,831,885 1871 2,616,965 8,569,012 3,399,598 1872 2,543,581 15,046,566 6, 194,096 1873 2,574,529 9,241,063 4,013, 572 I874. 2,507,130 11,335,396 5,291,287 1875 2,751,362 11,049,476 4,635,644 The acreage and imports of hops were: Year. Acres. Imports. Value. cwtS. £ 1867 64,284 296,117 1,626,941 1868 64,488 231,720 689,383 1869 61,792 322,515 1,098,475 1870 60,597 127,853 428,525 1871 60,033 218,664 895,895 1872 61,927 135,965 679,276 1873 63,278 122,729 602,941 1874 65,806 145,994 929,041 1875 69,172 256,444 1, 188,054 SUGAR. 195 The quantities of bushels of malf (a) charged with excise duties, (b) free of duty (for feeding cattle), and (c) retained for home consumption, were: Year. C. 1867 47,891,818 4,221,700 50,440,717 1868 49,703,931 4,633,895 52,669,089 1869 49,400,262 4,967,665 52,568,339 1870 53, 175,482 5,510,896 56,775,614 1871 50,724,097 5, 184,001 54, 160,917 1872 7,308,082 6,082,284 61,608,569 1873 59,194,089 6,256,833 63,496,785 1874 58,728,687 6,042,199 62,817,295 1875 58,139,535 6,617,833 63,015,676 Finally, of beer and ale we exported: Year. Quantity. Value. barrels. fº 1867 518,838 1,910,850 1868 496,646 1,869, 183 1869 495, I10 1,892,766 1870 521, 199 I,881,673 1871 483,120 1,853,733 1872 522,080 2,085,430 1873 584,939 2,422,020 1874 559,413 2,449,035 1875 504,511 2,094,672 W. SUGAR. When we talk of sugar as a British industry, we mean simply the refining of that article, whether it be cane-sugar from the West Indies, or beet from France and Germany. Liverpool, London, Bristol, Glasgow, and Greenock, are the chief seats of this trade, which employed, according to the Census, O 2 196 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Total. Under 20. Above 20. England . . . . 2781 234. | 2547 Scotland . . . . 950 118 832 | Total . . . . 8731 352 8879 The Factory Returns give a considerable increase on these numbers, viz.: - rº. º8. Above 18. Females. Total. England .. 30 106 3152 27 3285 Scotland .. 13 197 1568 © & I765 Ireland ºr tº I 4 120 & 4 124 Total 4 || 307 1840 27 5174 The kind of labour required in sugar refining is one of skill and experience. The processes, as de- scribed by Mr. Haughton Gill in his article,” consist of, 1. Dissolving and boiling (technically called “blowing up”); 2. Filtering through cotton bags; 3. Decolorizing by animal charcoal in “char” cisterns; 4. Boiling in a vacuum pan, so as to secure concentration and form crystals; 5. Separating the crystals from the mother liquor; 6. Draining and drying the “titlers” or loaves in store-rooms. The product of the first crystallization is known as “lumps,” and the subsequent ones as “pieces.” Both “bastards” and “pieces” are moist sugars of very low crystallization, and contain a considerable quantity of grape-sugar and moisture. It is, however, very much the fashion with grocers to deceive the public into * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ SUGAR. 197 buying “pieces ” instead of raw Sugar, which is an un- doubted imposition, as “pieces” not only contain iron and other impurities, but their sweetening power is only about two-fifths of that of cane. Women and boys are employed in sugar refining to a very small extent; the latter principally as “liquor ’’ boys, who stand at the taps to let out the liquid sugar into cans, while others work in the mixing room, or in handing the titlers to the men for the purpose of drying them. The imports of raw sugars in cwts, are as follows: Year. Quantity. Value. CWtS. f 1866 10,639,085 10,795,015 1867 10,545,315 11,501,961 1868 11,796, 161 13,339,758 I869 11,033,653 13,540,917 1870 12,798,631 14,440, 502 1871 12, 126,508 15,220,474 1872 13,776,696 18,044,898 1873 14,243,328 17,066,026 1874 14, 130,041 15,837,617 1875 16,264,711 17,210,107 But the exports of refined sugar are comparatively Small, though steadily progressing: Year. Quantity. Value. cwtS. f IS66 195,951 294,463 1867 172,650 266, 191 1868 269,017 465,855 1S69 304, 198 549,761 1870 579,253 934, 110 1871 778,435 1,239,702 1872 632,341 1,014, 256 1873 696,784 1,045,751 1874 922,342 1,221,891 1875 972,263 1,149,379 198 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, VI. PRESERVED PROVISIONS. It is impossible to state from official sources, how many persons are engaged in this comparatively modern industry. The Census at all events does not take note of it as a special occupation, but groups provision curers with provision dealers. The Factory Returns, however, do make a special mention of preserved meat, fruit, and fish preparers, and give the following list: NO. Of Nſales Factories. up to 18. Above 18. Females. Total. England .. 10 96 623 916 1635 Scotland .. 6 19 220 509 748 Ireland. .. S S0 624 60 765 Total .. 24 I95 1467 1485 3148 At the present time, it may fairly be assumed that between 4000 and 5000 are employed, as the industry is a decidedly progressive one. Food-preserving firms are but few, but they are all more or less well known in their several vocations, such as Messrs. Moir, Morton, Hogarth, of Aberdeen, and Messrs. Gillon, of Leith, for meat, soups, and fish ; Messrs. Crosse and Black- well, for soups and jams; Messrs. Keiller, of Dundee, for marmalade; the Aylesbury and the Anglo-Swiss Com- panies for milk, cocoa, and coffee, &c. These names are household words with those who have to manage the domestic cuisine, while others again are simply agents for colonial supplies, the manufacture of which is not carried on in this country. Mr. Manley has PRESER VED PRO VISIOWS. 199 described, in his article on the Preservation of Food,” the various patents and processes which have from time to time been taken out in this direction, and with more or less success. There is no doubt, but that there is ample room for extension of this trade, which, as regards the operatives, is clean, healthy, and pleasant, and one that particularly marks itself out as a source of occupation for women. At the present time (1856) the earnings of men are about 30s., and of women from 10s. to 13s. The amount of preserved meat which finds its way into this country from foreign and colonial sources, is rapidly increasing, viz: Years. Quantity. Value. CWts. f I866 2,318 8,122 1867 15,339 51,662 1868 20, 118 58,629 1869 32,214 94,260 1870 80,636 231,860 IS7L 254,833 662,280 1872 350,729 945,819 1873 260,749 733,331 IS74. 265,223 757,001 1875 171,373 592, 196 It will be observed that the fluctuations in the sup- plies are rather marked. This does not arise, however, from a decline in the demand for preserved meat, but rather from commercial and financial disturbances in Australia, or wherever the meat may be prepared. * “British Manufacturing Industries.’ 200 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. VII. FISH CURING, Viewed as a contribution to our national supplies of food, our fisheries are of the greatest interest, and are also of importance, as furnishing Occupation to a considerable body of people, viz.: Males. Females. Total. England . . . . 20,679 364 20,943 Scotland . . . . 26,267 1,029 27,296 Ireland tº $ g is 9,438 108 9,546 Total . . . . 56,384 1,501 57,785 It is not, however, with fishermen that I shall deal in this present section, partly because they do not come exactly within the category of our manufacturing population, and partly because our fisheries will form the subject of description on another occasion. There is, however, a department of this branch of industry upon which I may fairly touch, viz. the employment of men and women (but principally the latter) in fish curing at the several ports, on the arrival of the fishing fleets. The occupation is one which is known to the Factory authorities as a season trade, viz. one which is fitful and irregular in its times and seasons, and in which the necessities of the case produce alternations of great pressure with spells of idleness. Fish curing is carried on at all our principal fishing ports, but chiefly on the East coast and in Cornwall; Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Leith, Wick, Mevagissey, Kinsale, and sea- port places such as these, being the head-quarters of FISH CUR/WG, 201 the trade, which depends for its busy times on the nature of the fishery, whether it be for pilchards, mackerel, or herrings. The North Sea fishing is most brisk in January, February, and March ; that for mackerel is in July, August, and September ; while herrings are most prevalent on the East coast in October, November, and December. It is the latter fish which furnishes the most employment for the curers, for whose benefit large curing houses have been built, and are open for about eleven weeks during the last quarter of the year. The magnitude of the trade may be gathered from a statement made by a Factory Sub-Inspector,” that in one week alone twenty-four million herrings were sometimes landed at Lowestoft Pier. But the herring fishery is very variable, as the following statistics of Scotch fisheries will show : i * | * ca. - - 'Crans. 1872 5,516 569,888 I873 5,361 715,047 1S74. 5,740 723,433 1S75 5,463 652,962 1876 5,259 409,383 In the Irish fisheries there has been a marked decline, 38.16 more men and boys having been employed in 1874 than in 1875. - An enormous number of fresh herrings are sent * Factory Reports, 1874. 202 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. over the country by railway immediately on Ianding; but the industry of the women is principally con- centrated on the “kippers,” their duties being to split the fish open, gut them, put them into tanks of brine for a quarter of an hour, and hang them up for the night in the smoking room. It being necessary that the whole process up to the hanging be completed within the hour, it is easy to imagine the confusion and the prodigious clatter of tongues, that arises as Soon as the cargo is landed; and although the scene is eminently picturesque and busy, it cannot be said that the employment is one particularly suited to feminine associations. The fish that cannot be brought to shore on the same day as that on which they are caught, are partially salted in the boats, and become “bloaters,” these not being gutted or salted on shore, but only hung up for the night in the smoking room. In the case of the pilchard fishery at St. Ives or Mevagissey, the treatment of the fish is different, for as soon as they are brought on shore, they are taken into cellars and built up like a wall, with alternate layers of salt. This process is called “bulking,” and while it lasts, employs pretty nearly every available hand in the place, including numbers of children, who get paid at the rate of threepence an hour. The fish are next packed in hogsheads, with a large heavy stone at the top to assist in extracting the oil, and after this process the pilchards, now called “firmaids.” or “farmaids,” are exported to Italy and the Mediter- I’8,11628, Il. Notwithstanding the dirt and mess which is neces- FISH CURING, 203 sarily found in herring - curing establishments, the women are usually noted for their robust, animal health, and, perhaps not unnaturally, for their some- what free and unrestrained manners. As far as the first stage of gutting and Salting goes, the trade is under no restriction of the law, it being felt that it was useless to tie down an occupation, which depends so completely on the weather and the waves; but the subsequent operations of Smoking, drying, turning, &c., come under the ken of the Factory and Workshops Act, subject to certain modifications, which allow of over- time between 6 A.M. and 8 P.M., or 7 A.M. and 9 P.M., or 8 A.M. and 10 P.M. respectively, for ninety-six days in the year, between June 1 and December 24. To sum up the exports of all our British food sup- plies for the ten years, would take up too much space, but it may interest my readers to give the table for one year (1875): Food. Quantity. Value. |Principal Customers. CW tS. f - Biscuit and Bread | 127,764 368,698 || Holland, France. Butter . . . . . . 39,266 240,281 | Portugal, Azores. Cheese .. º 21,332 88,232 S. Africa, Australia. Salmon . . . . 5,586 35,218 France. Cod and Ling 37,350 46, 190 || Spain, Canaries. barrels. Herrings 684,755 956,620 Germany. bushels. Oysters 14,204 || 53,834 France, Belgium. hhds. Pilchards 9,567 || 33,240 Italy. º 4. º Australia, United Pickles .. 631,032 { States, India. ( 204 ) CHAPTER XI. SUNDRY INDUSTRIES. T. CHIMNEY SweFPs. THE reason why I have included this branch of work- people, who certainly do not come within the scope of manufacturing industries, is, because chimney sweeps form a class to which, from the nature of the occu- pation and the inhumanities committed in it, public attention has frequently been drawn, resulting in some useful and much-needed legislation. It is singular, that the Census takes no cognizance of chimney Sweeps, so that it is impossible to ascertain how many there are following the trade; but, according to the Post Office Directory, there are upwards of 140 in the me- tropolis. The miserable condition of chimney sweepers' climbing boys, to whom indeed the masters seemed to have always had a prescriptive right, long attracted the attention of Parliament; and an Act was passed in 1788 (28 Geo. III. c. 48) for the better regulation of chimney sweepers. This was succeeded by another in 1834 (4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 35), which forbad any child under ten to be apprenticed ; also the letting out of boys for hire (as was then the custom), or the sending them up any flue. It was ordered also, that no un- willing boys should be bound to the trade. In 1840 (3 & 4 Wic. c. 85) another Act was passed, limiting CHIMNEY SWEEPS. 205 the age of apprenticeship to sixteen, and forbidding anyone under twenty-one years to ascend a chimney. Attention was also directed to the faulty construction of chimneys, a clause providing, that no chimneys should be built except of a certain size and angle. But with all this, either the laws were inoperative or they were not universally enforced, and the condition of the climbing boys was in many towns as shocking as ever. In some localities, such as Birmingham, associations were set on foot to prevent the employment of them in this way, by prosecuting their masters and obtain- ing convictions against them. But even where such associations existed, great difficulties were constantly met with, owing to the apathy of the public, and the unaccountable dislike of magistrates to convict the offender; the fact being, that people in general were wedded to the old order of things, and that the in- troduction of the sweeping machine frequently en- tailed some trifling alteration in the chimney, before it could be used with advantage. An inquiry was ordered into the subject in 1862, and carried out by the Children’s Employment Commission, when a ter- rible state of things was revealed; and this led to the passing of the Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act of 1864 (26 & 27 Wic. c. 37), which provided that no child under ten years of age was to be employed in the trade under any circumstances, nor could a master sweep bring with him any person under the age of sixteen to the house, where the chimney was being swept. A considerable improvement then took place in public opinion, and this, together with the gradual increase in the use of the ram0neur, was the means of 206 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. great amelioration in the circumstances of the chimney sweepers' boys. In 1875, still more stringent regula- tions were laid down, through the efforts of the Earl of Shaftesbury, in the Chimney Sweepers Amendment Act (38 & 39 Vic, c. 70), which required every sweep to be registered and obtain a certificate, before he could follow his trade; by which means, a certain supervision is now enabled to be kept over the great body of sweeps. The accounts given of the treatment of the poor lads during their training, or indeed during their whole subsequent life, until they themselves became master sweeps, were almost incredible. The following is an extract of the evidence of a master sweep at Notting- ham, which was a notorious town for the employment of climbing boys: “No one knows the cruelty which a boy has to undergo in learning. The flesh must be hardened, and this is done by rubbing it, chiefly on the elbows and knees, with the strongest brine, close by a hot fire. You must stand over them with a cane, or coax them by the promise of a halfpenny, if they will stand a few more rubs. At first they will come back from their work with their arms and knees streaming with blood, and the knees looking as if the caps had been pulled off. Then they must be rubbed with brine again, and perhaps go off to another chimney. In some boys the flesh does not harden for years.” Another sweep at Manchester, who had gone through all this, testified as to their habits. “We slept four or six boys together in a sort of cellar, with the soot bags over us, sometimes sticking in the wounds; that and some straw were all our bed and bed-clothes: they CHIMNEY SWEEPS, 207 were the same bags that we used in the day, wet or dry. I could read, and we sometimes used to subscribe for a candle to read by, when we were in bed. I have seen the steam from our bodies so thick as to obscure the light, so that I could not see to read at all. Dozens die of consumption : they get up about their work in all weathers, and often at 2 and 3 A.M. They are filthy in their habits; lads often wear one shirt right on till it is done with. I have been for fifteen months without being washed, except by the rain. I know a man's son in Salford at this present moment, who has never washed since he has been a sweep.” Not only were these habits, known in the trade as “sleeping black,” filthy in the extreme, but the continual pre- sence of the soot next the skin often induced a fatal form of cancer, well known to medical men. Nor was this the only physical risk that the climbing boy ran, for it not unfrequently happened, that he stuck in some narrow bend of the chimney, and was either smothered or burnt. A Mr. Wood, who lived near Manchester, and had devoted much of his life to endeavouring to improve the condition of these lads, mentioned a case at Ashton, where the boys had to sweep out a hot boiler flue, and at first refused to go in ; but being plied with beer and threatened alternately, they did so, and came out in a quarter of an hour horribly burnt. When we reflect that these things could have happened in a Christian country not fifteen years ago, it is difficult to understand the amazing apathy and callousness exhibited by persons, who otherwise were doubtless charitable enough. It is not so many years since, that a lady, objecting to the use of the Sweeping machine, 208 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, inquired why she could not have the climbing boy as usual ; and on being told that he was gone to school, said, “A chimney sweep, indeed, wanting education What next 2’’ No section of the industrial classes could surely have required so much a help as this; and it is grati- fying to think that climbing boys are no longer the little black pariahs that they used to be, and that the law is now really strong enough to protect them from cruel treatment and neglect. Two of our great novelists, Charles Dickens and Charles Kingsley, have both held up a sweep to execration, in the shape of Mr. Gam- field in ‘ Oliver Twist,’ and Mr. Grimes in the ‘Water- Babies’; but we would fain hope that the cruel breed is fast disappearing. - II. CANAL BoATMEN. The number of those engaged, as what the Census tables call “carriers on canals and rivers,” is very con- siderable, viz.: * Inland - a - Barg Nºn tºº." Total. England . . . . 3,128 29,487 32,615 Scotland . . . . 502 60] 1,103 Ireland . . . . . . 347 774 1,121 Total . . . . 3,977 30,862 34,839 The reason why I allude to this branch of industry is, because a large share of public attention has of late been directed to it, with a view of putting a stop to the CANAL BOA. T.M.E.N. 209 evils, moral and physical, under which the canal population labour. At present, as far as England is concerned, the canal boats are the homes, not only of the men who work them, but also of their wives and families, a condition of things which is attended with overcrowding, considerable immorality, and ignorance, constituting a strong element of danger, in a sanitary point of view, to the large centres of population, be- tween which this amphibious section of society is constantly plying. Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, in Leicestershire, whose name is honourably associated in connection with the question of juvenile labour in brick-fields, and Captain May, of the Factories Department, were the two first to direct public attention to the canal population ; the former calculating, that on all the rivers and canals in the kingdom there are not less than 22,400 women, as many men, and 72,000 children, floating up and down. He also estimates (though roughly) that there are as many as 13,000 women living in an unmarried state, and 40,000 illegitimate children. Captain May adds his testimony as follows: “The cabin of a canal boat is about 8% feet long, 5 feet high, and 6 feet 3% inches at its broadest part. Within this space are frequently crowded at night, a man and his wife, and six children. I have known a case, in which it was made to contain nine children, besides the parents. In one of the North Staffordshire Railway Company's boats, there were six children of the following ages: males, 11, 6, and 13 years; females, 16, 13, and 8 years. No argument is required to prove the gross P 210 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. impropriety of such a state of things, the only wonder being, that so many human beings can be stowed away in so Small a place, which contains, moreover, the cooking and domestic utensils, clothes, and provisions; in fact, all the worldly goods of the family.” The evils, which are thus strongly spoken of, appear to be more common on some canals than others, such as the Grand Junction and the North Staffordshire, and perhaps the northern canals gene- rally. On the Irish canals, for instance, none but men are allowed in the boats, and this is very much the case with some of the southern English canals, such as the Kennet Navigation. It should, however, be men- tioned, that some people hold that, apart from the overcrowding, it is better for the interests of morality that the wives should accompany the husbands. For instance, in the Factory and Workshops Commis- sion of 1875, the Vicar of Goole, in Yorkshire, gave evidence to the effect, that he thought the interference of Parliament would be bad, inasmuch as if the wives were compelled to stay at home, more demoralization would be the consequence. The boats vary in character, according to the canal on which they ply. On the Bridgewater Navigation, there are two classes, the broad and narrow, which last are again subdivided into fly boats and slow boats. The fly boats run periodically, and are managed by three men; the slow boats by two men, or a man and his wife. These narrow ones travel principally on the Trent and Mersey Canal, between Runcorn and the Potteries; and the broad ones, on the Bridgewater * Factory Reports, 1874. - RAIL WAY SER VAWTS. 211 Canal, to Manchester. The earnings of a narrow slow boat, shared by two men, would be about 40s. to 43s. per week; and for the broad boats, about 32s. per week for the captain, and 27s. for the hands. On the Southern canals, wages are not so high, varying from 17s. to 25s. The question, how far it is possible to bring the juvenile population within the Supervision of the Factory Acts, and so of the education machinery of the country, is a difficult one, on account of the migratory character of the parents; but it is the opinion of the inspectors of factories, and others, that the balance lies decidedly in favour of the compulsory forbidding the employment on board the barges of young women or boys under fourteen years of age; and that the diffi- culties of working such an arrangement would not be nearly so great in practice, as they appear in theory. III. RAILWAY SERVANTs. Although not engaged in manufacturing industries, this large body of men is so essential to the working and development of our commercial system, that it would not be right to omit all mention of them. From the Census Returns, we find their numbers computed at (1871): Engine Drivers Officers, Clerks, Railway Attend- T and Stokers. Station Masters. ant Servants. Otal. England ... 13,715 22,083 48,827 84,625 Scotland .. 2,157 3,452 6, 164 II,773 Ireland 1,079 1,523 3,791 6,393 Total ... 17,351 27,058 58,782 102,791 P 2 212 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. All of these three branches of railway labour have, of course, different responsibilities and different risks, of which the engine drivers run the most. Indeed, it is marvellous to see how few accidents are met with, comparatively speaking, by this class, who, as a rule, are picked men, of considerable experience, courage, and steadiness. No traveller—and in these days all are travellers—can ever think too highly of the engine drivers, who in fair weather and foul, by day or by night, through snow, rain, and storm, are ever at their posts, and have shown examples of bravery, care, and presence of mind, which have, in the hour of emergency, saved many thousands of lives. The same may be said of the great body of our railway guards, who, though they run less personal risk, are always to the fore in time of danger, and in the great majority of cases, are civil, helpful servants, real “travellers' friends.” Apart from the risk of accident to which railway servants of all kinds are more or less exposed, the greatest evil of their calling appears to be the long and somewhat arbitrary hours of over-work to which they are subject, generally from motives of economy, at the hands of the managers. Economy, of course, is a vital necessity in railway supervision, but it is often carried on in the wrong place ; and many a life has been lost, both of traveller and servant, and many a thousand pounds sacrificed in repairs and in compen- sation, from the pardonable default of a sleepy driver or an overworked pointsman. When we come to think of the tremendous responsibility that lies upon the officials of a railway, it certainly seems that those RAIL WAY SER VAWTS. 213 upon whom the most devolves, should not be treated in the same hard and fast spirit as the ordinary labourer. The only statistic which I can append to this section of our industrial body, is a table showing the injuries to which they are subject. The list is only for three months of the present year (1876), but forms a suffi- cient average to calculate the annual loss of life and injury : Rilled. Injured. - 1. During shunting operations . . . . . . . 23 139 2. Falling off engines, vans, and waggons 10 6] 3. Coming in contact with overbridges] I I2 during train travelling . . . . . . ſ 4. Coming in contact, while shunting, with \ I3 other vehicles - - - is a º º e 5. Getting on or off trains or engines ... 7 6S 6. Loading, unloading, or sheeting .. 5 I7] 7. Braking, Spragging, or chocking wheels .. 34 8. Working at cranes or capstans I 43 9. Working on the permanent way .. 31 49 10. Walking home along the line 4 3 11. Crossing or standing on the line .. 55 59 12. Passing between vehicles 7 24 13. Cleaning engines * * * * * * * * 2 34 14. Attending to gates at level crossings .. e e • * 15. Falling between vehicles or platforms 7 I6 16. Falling off ladders or platforms I 60 17. Falling off lamps, Waggons, &c. . . . . tº e 82 18. Coupling or uncoupling Waggons I3 102 19. Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . 2 88 Total . . . . 169 wº | or at the rate of 680 deaths and 4200 accidents per annum. The Registrar-General's returns of mortality for the year 1871 were as follows: 214 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Railway driver or stoker .. Officer, clerk, or station master Attendant or servant Total .. |Under 20. Above 20. Total. 13 212 225 22 262 284 52 739 791 S7 1213 1300 CEIAPTER XII. WORKING-CLASS FEDERATION. I oughT not to close my account, however brief and imperfect, of the condition of the working classes of Great Britain, without showing my readers one of the most important phases in the industrial economy of the age, viz. that of federation or banding together for purposes tending, or supposed to be tending, to their self-interest. These federations may be princi- pally divided into three heads: 1. Trades Unions; 2. Friendly Societies; 3. Co-operative Societies. There can be, one would imagine, but one expression of opinion as to the utility and excellence of the two last of these; the first may have been rendered necessary by the course of events, but it is, at the most, a doubtful blessing. The earliest legislation bearing upon the question of combination is that of 1726 (12 Geo. I. c. 34), when an Act was passed to prevent unlawful combination of workmen in the woollen manufactures, which was succeeded by a more general Act of 1825 (6 Geo. IV. c. 63), the Combination of Workmen Amendment Act; another of the same name, in 1859 (22 & 23 Vic. c. 34); the Trades Unions Funds’ Protection Act of 1869 (32 & 33 Vic.), the Trades Union Amendment Act of 1871 (34 & 35 Wic. c. 31), and the Trade 216 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Union Amendment Act of 1876 (39 & 40 Vic. c. 22). By the Act of 1871 union is made legal, by declaring that members would not render themselves liable to criminal prosecution for conspiracy by combining to- gether. “Trades Union,” as defined by this Act, is a combination, whether temporary or permanent, for regu- lating the relations between workmen and masters, or between workmen and workmen, or between masters and masters, or for imposing restrictive conditions for the conduct of any trade or business as would, if this Act had not been framed, have been deemed an unlawful combination, by reason of some one or more of its purposes being in restraint of trade. The oldest Trades Union which figures in the official list of the Registrar of Friendly Societies is that of the United Order of Smiths, Engineers, and Machinists, London, which dates from 1823; but of the 194 of which particulars are given in the Report of 1875, 173 were registered after the passing of the Act of 1871. By briefly analyzing the list, we find the com- binations of the several trades as follows: No. of Teactiles, viz. Warehousemen, stuff makers, machine Members. wool-comb makers, pattern card-makers, trim- ming weavers, carpet weavers, woollen weavers, silk dressers, cotton spinners, power-loom weavers, flax dressers, mill machinists . . . . 27,865 Building, viz. Bricklayers, plasterers, stone carvers, stone masons, carpenters and joiners - tº gº tº Engineering, viz. Boiler makers, iron ship-builders, engineers, pattern and mould makers, steam and stationary engine makers, and stokers ... .. 71,048 Iron, viz. Iron and steel works, foundry-men, tin- plate workers, blast furnace men . . . . . . 35,664 72, 143 WORKING-CZASS FEDERATION. 217 No. Of Members. Colliers and Miners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215,925 Agricultural Labourers is a s tº 99,576 Travelling, viz. Railway servants, cab-drivers, Watermen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 123 Clothing, viz. Tailors, bootmakers . . . . . . . . 26,647 Painting, viz. House and ship-painters . . . . . . 8,015 Printing, viz. Printers, bookbinders . . . . . . 12,714 Food, viz. Tobacco makers, bakers, licensed victuallers, &c. * 5,386 Brass Workers dº º is a ſº ſº dº is s ſº & & 7,241 Cutlery ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,100 Glass a E & © & s is is a tº sº tº * * * * 1,058 Blacksmith's Work, viz. Nail makers, farriers and horse-shoers, chain and spade makers, &c. 4,520 Furniture and Woodwork . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,824 Chemicals g & & 4,000 Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,684 Shipping, viz. Shipwrights, seamen, ship-joiners, pilots, Watermen, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,798 Leather, viz. Saddlers, leather case makers, &c. .. 530 Music, viz. Piano and organ makers, artists & ſº 900 Watchmaking and Goldsmiths' work . . . . . . . . 316 Ropes and Sails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 1,900 Labourers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200 Stone Work, viz. Paviors, carvers, &c. 487 Women, viz. Upholstresses, bookbinders, collar makers, machinists, &c. e is e º ºr e º e º & 525 Of this number, 566,985 were represented by their various delegates at the last annual Tabour Par- liament or Trades Congress, held at Newcastle, in September 1876. Although this is not a very large proportion out of the enormous mass of the industrial population of Great Britain, it is a rapidly growing one, and quite influential and important enough to make those who are interested in the prosperity of the 218 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. kingdom, very anxious that the leaders of the move- ment should be moderate in their demands for changes, and capable of remembering, that the trade and in- dustries of even a great country like ours are easily frightened away by injudicious and ill-advised agita- tion. If the working classes of England would com- pare their own condition with those of other countries, the great bulk of them would be somewhat astonished to find what superior advantages they enjoyed in almost every way, and that it rested very much with them- selves to improve these advantages. It is with feelings of greater satisfaction that we turn to the second confederation of working classes, viz. Friendly Societies, which are very numerous and increasing rapidly. In the Report of the Registrar for 1874 it is mentioned “that there are in England and Wales above 32,000 Friendly Societies, with 4,000,000 of members, and at least as many persons who are dependent on the members insured, making, on the whole, about 8,000,000 of persons insured in these mutual voluntary relief funds out of 23% millions of inhabitants, or about one insured member out of every six persons, of whom the greater number belong to the working classes.” The total returns for 1874 were : Amount of No. of Funds. | Members. England . . . . 8,716,420 2,003,483 Wales ... ... .. 321,870 72,410 | Total ... ... 9,038,290 2,075,893 WORKING-CDASS FEDERA TYON. 219 The legislation under which this class of benefit societies have been placed are, the Friendly Societies Act of 1855 (18 & 19 Vic. c. 63); the Friendly So- cieties Amendment Act of 1867 (30 & 31 Vic. c. 117); the Friendly Societies Act of 1875 (38 & 39 Vic. c. 60); and the Friendly Societies Amendment Act of 1876 (39 & 40 Vic. c. 32). - Provident or co-operative societies have very largely increased within the last few years, not only amongst the working classes, but also in the richer sections of society, and this increase cannot but be a subject of congratulation, if only on the score of obligation to make ready-money payments, and thus avoid debt. The following is the statement of societies in Great Britain, according to the returns of 1874: Amount of i | - Nº.ºf Nºor. “... “Cash paid. Neº, "...” sº Members. Capital. Goods. Profit. Members. | -Q : . England . . slo 357,821 3.653.582 * * * * * Wales . . 5 ,658,582 12,848,1491,070,923, 887,482 Scotland . . 21 6 54,431 250,026 . . . 155,087 135,757 | i Provision, grocery, and drapery stores are the chief outlets for co-operative enterprise; but it sometimes takes a higher range, such as are to be found in the Huddersfield Co-operative Iron Works, the Sheffield Engineering Company in Yorkshire, the Rochdale Manufacturing Company, the North of England Co- operative Printing Company in Manchester, &c. The number of Loan Societies is rather large, especially in proportion to the number of members in each. The statistics of 1875, for England and Wales, 220 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. were : number of societies, 291; number of members, 22,776; amount paid by depositors or shareholders, 128,512l. ; number of applications for loans, 90,388; number of borrowers to whom loans were granted, 83,768; amount paid for interest, 23,228l. ; met profits, after paying expenses of management, 13,523!. ( 221 ) CEIAPTER XIII. WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. ALTHOUGH Acts of Parliament are not in themselves very interesting in their recital, it would be impossible to omit this branch of the subject in any work dealing with the artisan and labourer. Legislation for this section of the British population has been very abun- dant of late years; and a knowledge of this fact ought effectually to dispose of the silly cry, that the various governments have overlooked the interests of the working classes. Indeed, I question whether many of my readers are aware of the number of Acts that have been passed under this head, as I have not been able hitherto to find a complete summary of them in any publication. I propose to touch very briefly upon the leading features of the principal Acts, so as to show how our factory legislation has grown up; and also to point the moral, that this branch of our laws has become very unwieldy and wants unification. That the me- cessity has been recognized, is evident from the exhaustive Report issued at the commencement of the year 1876 by the Factory Enquiry Commission ; and it is to be hoped that many inconsistencies in the working of these Acts will ere long be done away with. I have occasionally referred to them more at 222 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. length, when treating of the respective trades to which they apply. In the following list it must be remembered, that a large proportion does not come under the head of Factory Acts properly so called, but that all the legis- lation has been included, and tabulated according to date. 1562.-5 Elizabeth, c. 4. An Act touching dyvers orders of artificers, labourers, servantes of husbandry, and apprentices. 1702.-1 Anne. An Act for preventing the abuses and frauds of persons em- ployed in the woollen, linen, fustian, cotton, and iron manu- factures. 1721.-7 Geo. I. c. 13. An Act for regulating the journeymen tailors. 1723.—9 Geo. I. c. 27. An Act for the regulation of journeymen shoemakers. 1726.-12 Geo. I. c. 34. An Act to prevent unlawful combination of workmen in the woollen manufactures. 1747.—20 Geo. II. c. 19. An Act for the adjusting of wages of certain servants. 1754.—27 Geo. II. c. 6. Regulation of Wages Amendment Act. 1758.-31 Geo. II. c. 11. An Act to determine differences between masters and Servants in husbandry. 1765.-5 Geo. III. c. 51. An Act for repealing laws on Woollen manufactures. WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 223 1766.—6 Geo. III. c. 25. An Act for better regulating apprentices. 1777.—17 Geo. III. c. 56. An Act for preventing abuses in the manufacture of hats, wool, linen, fustian, cotton, iron, leather, fur, hemp, flax, mohair, and silk; and to prevent fraud by journeymen dyers. 1779.--—19 Geo. III. c. 49. An Act to prevent abuses in payment of wages in the bone and thread lace manufactures. 1788–28 Geo. III. c. 48. An Act for the better regulation of chimney sweeps. 1793.—33 Geo. III. c. 55. An Act to fine masters for ill-usage of apprentices. 1799.-39, 40 Geo. III. c. 77. An Act for the security of colliers and miners. 1802.-42 Geo. III. c. 73. Factory Health and Morals Act. 1819.-59 Geo. III. c. 66. Factory Act. 1820.—60 Geo. III. c. 5. Factory Act (Preservation of Health). 1823.−4 Geo. IV. c. 29. Powers of Magistrates in Apprenticeships Act, 1823.−4 Geo. IV. c. 34. An Act enlarging the same. 1824.—5 Geo. IV. c. 96. Arbitration Amendment Act. 1825.-6 Geo. IV. c. 63. Factory Act, 224 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1825.-6 Geo. IV. c. 129. Combination of Workmen Amendment Act. 1829.-10 Geo. IV. c. 51. Factory Amendment Act. 1829.—10 Geo. IV. c. 63. Factory Amendment Act. 1829.—10 Geo. IV. c. 52. An Act to determine disputes in silk trade. 1831–1, 2 Wrm. IV. c. 39. Factory Act. 1831.-1, 2 Wm. IV. c. 3. An Act to prohibit the payment of wages in goods or otherwise than in current coin of the realm (Truck Act). 1833.—3, 4 Wm. IV. c. 103. Factory Act (Lord Ashley's Act). 1834.—4, 5 Wm. IV. c. 1. Factory Amendment Act. 1834.—4, 5 Wm. IV. c. 35. Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act. 1840.-3, 4 Vic. c. 85. Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act. 1842–5, 6 vic, c. 7. Regulation of Apprentices Amendment Act. 1842–5, 6 Vic. c. 99. Mines and Collieries Regulation Act. 1843.−6, 7 Vic. c. 40. Prevention of Fraud Act in Woollen Manufactures. 1844–7, 8 Wic. c. 15. Factories Regulation Act. WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 225 1845.-8, 9 Vic, c. 29. Print Works Regulation Act. 1845.-8, 9 Vic. c. 128. Regulation of Tickets Act in silk trade. 1846.-9, 10 Vic. c. 40. Rope Walks Exemption Act. 1847.-10, 11 Vic. c. 29. Factory Act. 1850–13, 14 Vic. c. 54. Factory Act. 1850–13, 14 Vic. c. 100. Inspection of Coal Mines Act. 1853.−16, 17 Vic. c. 104. Factory Act. 1855.-18, 19 Vic. c. 108. Inspection of Coal Mines Amendment Act. 1855.-18, 19 Vic. c. 132. Labourers' Dwellings Act. 1855.-18, 19 Vic. c. 63. Friendly Societies Act. 1856.-19, 20 Vic. c. 38. Factory Act. 1859.-22, 23 Vic. c. 34. Combination of Workmen Amendment Act. 1860.—23, 24 Vic. c. 78. Bleaching and Dyeing Act. 1860–23, 24 Vic. c. 151. Regulation and Inspection of Coal Mines Act. 1861–24, 25 Wic. c. 117. Lace Factories Act. 226 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. I862.-25, 26 Vic. c. 79. Coal Mines Amendment Act. 1862.-25, 26 Vic. c. 89. Industrial and Provident Societies Act. 1862.—25, 26 Vic, c. 8. Employment of Women and Children in Open-air Bleaching Act. I863.−26, 27 Vic, c. 38. Factories Amendment Act (Bleaching and Dyeing). 1863.−26, 27 Vic. c. 40. Bakehouses Regulation Act. 1864.—27, 28 Vic, c. 37. Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act. 1864.—27, 28 Vic. c. 98. Bleaching and Dyeworks Extension Act. 1864.—27, 28 Vic. c. 48. Factories Extension Act. 1867–30, 31 Vic. c. 103. Factories Extension Act. 1867–30, 31 Vic. c. 117. Friendly Societies Amendment Act. 1867-30, 31 Vic. c. 141. Master and Servant Act. 1867–30, 31 Vic. c. 146. Workshop Regulation Act. 1867.-30, 31 Vic. Arbitration Act. 1867–30, 31 Vic. c. 117. Industrial and Provident Societies Amendment Act. WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 227 1867.-30, 31 Vic. c. 130. Agricultural Gangs Act. 1868,-31, 32 Vic. c. 130, Artisans’ and Labourers' Dwellings Act. 1869.-32, 33 Vic. Trades Unions Funds Protection Act. 1870–33, 34 Vic. c. 62. Factory and Workshop Act. 1870,-33, 34 Vic, c. 30. Wages Attachment Abolition Act. 1870.-33, 34 Vic. Wages Arrestment Act (Scotland). 1870.—33, 34 Vic. c. 105. Truck Commission Act. 1871.-34, 35 Vic. c. 104. Factory and Workshops Amendment Act. 1871–34, 35 Vic. c. 19. Factory and Workshops Act (exemption of Jews). 1871.-34, 35 Vic. c. 31. Trades Unions Amendment Act. - 1871.-34, 35 Vic. c. 32. Criminal Law Amendment Act. 1871. –34, 35 Vic. c. 80. Industrial and Provident Societies Amendment Act. 1872.-35, 36 Wic. c. 76. Coal Mines Regulation Act. 1872–35, 36 Vic. c. 77. Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act. Q 2 228 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1872–35, 36 Vic. c. 46. Arbitration between Masters and Workmen Act. 1873.−36, 37 Vic. c. 67. Employment of Agricultural Children Act. 1874.—37, 38 Wic. c. 44. Factory Act (health of young persons, women, and children). 1874.—37, 38 Vic. c. 48. Hosiery Manufacture and Wages Act. 1874–37, 38 Vic. c. 59. Working Men's 1)welling Act. 1875.-38, 39 Vic, c. 70. Chimney Sweepers Amendment Act. 1875.-38, 39 Vic. c. 90. Employers and Workmen Act. 1875.-38, 39 Vic. c. 86. Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act. 1875.-38, 39 Vic. c. 36. Artisans' Dwellings Act. 1875.-38, 39 Vic. c. 60. Friendly Societies Act. 1876.—39, 40 Wic. c. 22. Trade Union Amendment Act. 1876.-39, 40 Vic. c. 32. Friendly Societies Amendment Act. Without touching upon any of the earlier Acts, I 1802. will pass on at once to that of 1802 (42 Geo. III. c. 73), which was memorable in the history of our WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 229 social legislation as being the first to recognize the terrible evils of the factory system, although this was only then in its infancy. I have referred, under the head of the textile operative, to the miseries endured by the apprentices of those days, and therefore need not recur to them here, but will merely mention that to the first Sir Robert Peel was due the honour and credit of passing this Act, which was the thin end of the wedge for all successive laws. Its main provisions included those mills and factories where three or more apprentices, and twenty or more persons were employed; and directed that the rooms should be washed well with lime and water twice a year; that the appren- tices should be clothed with two suits yearly, and should be instructed in reading, writing, and arith- metic during the first four years; that the hours of work should not be more than twelve per day, exclusive of meals; that work might be carried on by night during certain periods in mills with fifteen hundred Spindles. Visitors were also appointed, penalties fixed, &c. This was an excellent commencement; but the increased development of the steam engine so rapidly caused a corresponding development of ma- chinery, and so great an increase in the number of mills, that the circumstances under which the Act was framed were changed, so as to make it practically use- less. The apprentice system indeed was given up and free labour substituted, though the abuses that formerly attended the apprentices were repeated as badly as ever in the case of the juvenile operatives, while the duration of labour was fourteen, fifteen, or even sixteen 230 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1819. 1825. 1831. 1833. hours per day for a single set of hands. Again were Sir R. Peel and his son to the fore, impressing these facts upon the country, and with such good result that the Act of 1819 (59 Geo. III. c. 66) was passed, which led to the restriction of labour for unapprenticed children. By this law no child was to be employed till nine years of age, while no person under sixteen was to work more than twelve hours per day; lost time to be made up only at the rate of an additional daily hour. A succeeding Act, in 1825 (6 Geo. IV. c. 63), improved upon this by limiting the Saturday work to nine hours, and directed that a register should be kept in every mill for entering each child, such book to be a voucher of the age. By the Act of 1831 (1 & 2 Wm. IV. c. 39) it was provided that no person under the age of twenty-one should be allowed to work at night. The hours of labour were fixed at sixty-nine per week, which might be extended three hours per week to make up for lost time. All these Acts, however, were rendered prac- tically inoperative from their possessing no adequate compulsory clauses, a failing which was not remedied till 1833, when Lord Ashley (now Earl of Shaftesbury) introduced a Bill (3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 103), of which the salient points were as follows: Persons under eighteen were not allowed to work at night in factories, or for more than twelve hours per day, except for lost time, at the rate of three hours per week; the employment of children under nine was prohibited, and also of children of eleven, twelve, and thirteen for more than eight hours per day. Certificates of age and appearance were WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 231 required in the case of children, and no child between thirteen and eighteen could be employed more than nine hours a day, or at night, without a certificate of age. The great feature of this Act, however, was the establishment of a system of inspection ; four in- spectors were first of all appointed, and this may be said to be the real foundation of the present factory System. The year 1834 witnessed the extension of legislative 1834. protection to other classes of operatives, besides those who are properly spoken of as factory hands, and which term by common consent has been limited to those employed in textile mills. Chimney-sweepers were the first to feel the beneficent changes (though they had previously been the subject of an old Act in 1788); and certainly the accounts of the brutalities practised on the wretched little victims showed how greatly legis- lation was needed. The Act of 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 35, provided for the better regulation of chimney sweepers and their apprentices, and directed attention to the safer construction of flues. No child under ten was to be apprenticed, and all such were to be designated by a brass plate on the cap. Boys were not to be let out for hire, nor were they allowed to ascend a flue. Pro- vision was also made that no unwilling lads should be bound to the trade, and stringent regulations were laid down against ill-treatment. This was followed up six years later by the Act of 1840. 1840 (3 & 4 Wic. c. 85), which enacted a penalty for any person under twenty-one ascending a chimney or flue, while the age of apprenticeship was increased to 232 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1842. 1844. sixteen. There was also a well-intentioned effort to improve the construction of chimneys, by ordering that none should be built save of a certain size and angle. In 1842 a far more (numerically) important section of the population received attention, viz. the young people employed in collieries, many of whom (and especially the females) were degraded to almost the con- dition of beasts of burden. The commencement of the elaborate system of coal-mine inspection dates from this year, when an Act was passed (5 & 6 Wic. c. 99) pro- hibiting the employment of females, as also boys under ten, underground in mines and collieries. At this date inspectors were first appointed; and the increased safety of the workpeople provided for, by allowing no one under fifteen to be in charge of a winding-engine, where steam was used ; and of their morals, by the prohibition of the payment of wages at a publichouse. By the Act of 1844 (7 & 8 Vic. c. 15) the factory inspection system was brought into a more compact and official form, what might and what might not be done being better defined, as well as protection given to the inspectors in the execution of their duty. Sub- inspectors were appointed, and a head office established in London. In fact the system became, for the first time, a recognized department of State routine. The appointment of certifying surgeons also dates from this, while an important clause provided for the greater protection of the “hands” by the compulsory guarding of machinery and the forbidding mill gear to be cleaned while in motion; as also for the more efficient Sani- tary supervision of children in wet-spinning flax WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 233 mills. Notice of accident was required to be given, and damages allowed as compensation in the case of pre- ventible bodily injury. There was also a further limitation of the labour of children, who could only be employed for seven hours per day, though they might work for ten hours on three days of the week, provided that they attended school on the alternate days. The hours were reckoned from the time when they began in the morning. Women could only be employed under the same regulations as young persons, viz. under the age of eighteen, while the Saturday half holiday (from 4.30 P.M.) was recognized. The length and minutiae of the Act proved that the Government was thoroughly aroused to the necessity of a good factory supervision. In the next year (8 & 9 Vic. c. 29) the Print Works 1845. Regulation Act was passed, by which that large section of textile operatives, which had not been previously included under the Factory Acts, was now legislated for, by being placed under the same system of inspec- tion as that of the spinning and weaving mills. In 1846 the Rope Walks Exemption Act (9 & 10 1846. Vic. c. 40) was passed, though of a very negative character, simply declaring that hand rope-makers did not come under the Factory Acts. This, as we shall presently see, is one of those anomalies which should be done away with. In 1847 (10 & 11 Vic. c. 29) a further restriction was 1847. placed on the hours of labour of young persons and females, viz. to eleven hours per day or sixty-three hours per week. A lull then took place in working- class legislation; and it was not until 1850 (13 & 14 1850. 234 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1853. 1855. I856. I860. Vic. c. 54) that the next Factory Act was passed, in which it was provided that no young person or female should be employed before 6 A.M. or after 6 P.M., and on Saturdays after 2 P.M.; meals to be taken between 7.30 A.M. and 6 P.M., instead of between 7.30 A.M. and 7.30 P.M. as before ; while young persons and females were not allowed to be employed for lost time after 7 P.M. This Act, however, only referring to young persons and women, it was found necessary in 1853 (16 & 17 Vic. c. 104) to supplement it with a similar Act for children. In 1855 coal mines were again legislated for (18 & 19 Vic. c. 108) the duties of the inspectors being more accurately defined, and further details for protection of life being laid down, such as more adequate ventila- tion, fencing of shafts, proper signalling, &c., while immediate notice had to be given of every accident. Hitherto the legislation had been of a specific character, devoted to certain trades; but in this year, the labouring classes in the aggregate received an instalment, in the shape of an Act (18 & 19 Vic. c. 132) for facilitating the erection of dwelling houses by means of companies with certain permissive rights, subject to regulations as to drainage, ventilation, and inspection by boards of health. Certain doubts having risen as to the sufficiency of protection of workpeople from machinery in factories, an Act was passed in 1856 (19 & 20 Vic. c. 38) more strictly defining mill gear and machinery; and in 1860 (23 & 24 Vic. c. 78) another section of factory opera- tives was included under factory legislation, viz. those WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 235 employed in bleach and dye works. All the former Acts were henceforth to apply to this division of labour, except in the case of bleaching in the open air. Females and young persons might be employed till 4.30 P.M. on Saturdays and 8 P.M. On other days. The clause as to the meal-times, however, did not extend to this Bleach and Dye Act. In the same year the area of operations of coal-mine inspection was extended (23 & 24 Vic. c. 151), so as to include all iron mines under the same supervision, while many additional improvements were introduced for the safety of underground workmen, such as still more ventilation, fencing off of dangerous places, the use of safety lamps, proper chains and other lowering apparatus. The interests of the colliers were also looked after, by permissive rules for weighing coal and ironstone at the pit's bank. The year 1861 was marked by an Act (24 & 25 Wic. 1861. c. 117) to place the operatives in the lace establish- ments under the factory system, they having been, up to this year, entirely without supervision. The only addition worth notice was, that the Act included youths between sixteen and eighteen, whom it allowed to work between 4 A.M and 10 P.M., though for not more than nine hours between those times. In 1862 a fresh Coal Mine Regulation Act (25 & 26 1862. Vic. c. 79) was passed. Some terrible accidents having happened, in consequence of the workmen not being able to leave the colliery in time, it was enacted that every owner should in future provide two distinct means of egress from his coal seams, such outlets to be 236 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1863. 1864. separated by at least 10 feet of strata. But in cases where unusual difficulties existed, the Act allowed of arbitration, as also extension of time. In 1863 another section of the operative class was brought under the factory system, viz. those who are employed in “calendering” or “finishing” yarn and cloth, and who were by this Act (26 & 27 Vic. c. 88) considerably bettered in the conditions of labour. The bakers also, whose hours of work and general Sanitary arrangements had been the subject of a search- ing inquiry, were in this year legislated for ; the Bakehouses Regulation Act (26 & 27 Vic. c. 40) pro- hibiting the employment of any person under eighteen in a bakehouse between 9 P.M. and 5. A.M.; and also the use, as a sleeping place, of any room on the same level with the bakehouse, except under certain pro- visions of ventilation. The year 1864 was a busy one in working-class legislation, no fewer than three Acts having been passed. (a) The chimney sweepers were the subject of one (27 & 28 Vic. c. 37), the protection of the young children being still further carried out. No child under ten was to be employed in the trade, nor could a master sweep bring with him any person under the age of sixteen to the house where the chimney was being swept. (b) The Factory Acts were partially extended to the lucifer-match and earthenware trades, so far as applied to the children, young persons, and women taking their meals in any part of the house; and to fustian cutting, as to the age of the children employed (eleven years); while (c) a still further sec- WORKING-C/ASS LEGISLATION. 237 tion of operatives were brought under the Acts, viz. those engaged in “hooking,” “lapping,” making up and packing yarns and cloth. The year 1867 was signalized both by the number 1867. and importance of its Acts. (a) The Factory Acts were extended (30 & 31 Wic. c. 103) so as to em- brace blast furnaces, copper mills, iron forges and foundries, brass foundries, machine making, india- rubber and gutta-percha, paper, glass, and tobacco manufactories, letter-press printing, book-binding, or any trade indeed in which fifty or more persons were employed on the premises. The principal points of this Extension Act were, that no child, young person, or woman should be employed in these trades on a Sunday; no boy under twelve and no female, in that part of a glass-house where melting and annealing were carried on ; and no child under eleven in grinding in the metal trade ; while there were provisions as to taking meals in glass houses, ventilation, and greater care in the fixing of grindstones. Owing to the exi- gencies and customs of some of these trades, however, there were several modifications, as to youths of sixteen years of age being employed for fifteen hours a day under certain conditions ; and the employment of children, young persons, and women for different periods of time, as long as the legal hours of work were not increased. Letter-press printing, paper making, book-binding, blast furnaces, and iron mills were the principal trades to which these modifications applied, as also the manufacture of preserves from fruit. (b) The Master and Servant Act (30 & 31 Vic. 238 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. c. 141) was framed in order to provide a remedy in the case of non-fulfilment of service or contract on the part of the employer or employed, by complaint before a justice, who might order compensation to the aggrieved party, with powers to insist upon the fulfil- ment of, or to annul, the contract. In case of aggravated conduct the offender might be imprisoned. (c) The Agricultural Gangs Act (30 & 31 Vic. c. 130) was brought forward to do away with the evils of working children and women in “gangs,” driven by a gang-master, a system (most common in the Eastern counties) pregnant with mischief, and a source of great misery throughout the district where it was carried on. By this Act, children under eight were altogether for- bidden to be employed, as also women in gangs in which men were working, or which was commanded by a gang-master. Leaders of gangs were also compelled to have a license, granted to them by the justices. (d) The Workshop Regulation Act (30 & 31Wic.c.146) marked another great era in this class of legislation. The Factory Acts applying only to establishments where fifty or more were employed, it was thought advisable that small places should be also brought under the supervision of the law. This Act, therefore, prohibited the employment of children under eight in any handicraft, whether for gain or otherwise. No. child (i.e. under thirteen) could be employed for more than six and a half hours per day, between 6 A.M. and 8 P.M. No young person (i.e. between thirteen and eighteen) or woman could be employed more than twelve hours between 5 A.M. and 9 P.M., of which time WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 239 one and a half hour was to be devoted to meals. The cessation of work on Sunday, and on Saturday after 2 P.M. was also enforced, except, as regarded the latter day, in places where not more than five persons were employed in making or repairing articles for sale. Better ventilation was insisted upon in all shops where grinding, glazing, or wheel polishing was carried on, So that the dust could be removed by fans or otherwise. Inspection was provided by the local authorities, though the factory inspectors were empowered to visit the workshops if required. Education was looked after by a clause, compelling every child employed in a workshop to attend school for ten hours each week, the employer being empowered, on the application of the teacher, to pay for the schooling, and deduct the sum from the child’s wages. (e) The Arbitration Act (30 & 31 Vic.) was passed to permit the granting of licenses for courts of arbi- tration or conciliation for the settlement of disputes, Such courts to consist of a chairman and not less than two, or more than ten, masters and workmen, to be elected by that trade in which the dispute was being carried on. Rates of wages and hours of labour, however, could not be dealt with by these courts. The year 1868 was signalized by an Act (31 & 32Wic. c. 130) to provide better dwellings for artisans and labourers. Not only were houses and premises, found by the officer of health unfit for human habitation, to be remedied by the owner and substituted by better ones, but any four or more householders were em- powered to report where disease existed in any street, 1868. 240 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1870. 1871, | and request the local authorities to take action. The owner was thereupon obliged to make the necessary alterations, or, in case of neglect, the local authority did it for him, charging him with the cost. By the Factory and Workshops Act of 1870, (38 & 34 Vic. c. 62) the Factory Extension Act of 1867 was made to apply to print, dye, and bleach- works, including the open-air bleaching process. In the table of permanent modifications, it was enacted, that women employed in the trades of fruit preserving and fish curing might work between June 1st and December 24th for fourteen hours, provided that this did not occur for more than five consecutive days per week. (b) The Wages Attachment Abolition Act (33 & 34 Vic. c. 30) provided that no order for the attachment of wages of servant, workman, or labourer should henceforth be made in the county court. (c) The Wages Arrestment Limitation Act (Scot- land), was very similar in its design, with the exception that it named 20s. per week as the limit of wages, within which no arrestment could be made, although it would apply to anything over that amount. (d) The Truck Commission Act (38 & 34 Vic. c. 105) was passed to inquire into the prevalence of the truck system (one of the very worst evils that ever infested the life of the working man), and the disregard of previous legislation on this head, viz. the Act of Wm. IV., which had become completely inoperative. In 1871 no less than five new Acts were framed. (a) By the Factory and Workshop Amendment Act WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 241 (34 & 35 Vic. c. 104) the supervision of workshops was taken away from the local authorities and was placed under the factory inspectors. Those who were em- ployed in the immediate curing of fish on the arrival of the boats, were exempted from the Acts; while females under sixteen and children under ten were prohibited from making bricks and tiles, not being ornamental tiles. Certain exceptions were authorized to be made, in cases where the business depended upon the weather or the seasons of the year, so that young persons of fourteen and women might be employed for a period not exceeding fourteen hours per day. In brickyards, males of sixteen and women might work for the same period, provided that it was not for more than three days in any one week. (b) By the Jews Exemption Act (34 & 35 Vic. c. 19) young persons and females of the Jewish persuasion were allowed to work on Sundays, without fear of penalty, provided that the workshop was closed on Saturday till sunset and not open for traffic on Sunday; and also that the inspectors were allowed free admission on the latter day. (c) The Trades Union Amendment Act (34 & 35 Vic. c. 31) made union legal, by declaring that members would not render themselves liable to criminal prosecu- tion for conspiracy by combining together. Trade union contracts, however, as a rule, were not enforceable by any court, nor did the Friendly Societies, the Industrial and Provident Societies, or the Companies Acts apply to trade unions. They were obliged to be registered, and were permitted to purchase or lease land (not R 242 BRITISH MANUFACTURING IND USTRIES. 1872. more than one acre) and buildings for the purposes of the union. The term “trades union’’ was defined by the Act, as meaning a combination, whether temporary or permanent, for regulating the relations between workmen and masters, or between workmen and work- men, or between masters and masters, or for imposing restrictive conditions for the conduct of any trade or business, as would, if this Act had not been framed, have been deemed an unlawful combination, by reason of some one or more of its purposes being in restraint of trade. (d) The Criminal Law Amendment Act (34 & 35 Vic. c. 32) dealt with all cases of violence, threats, and molestation of master or workman, the punishment of such offences being (not exceeding) three months im- prisonment, with or without hard labour. Molestation was defined as, following another person persistently about from place to place, hiding his tools, clothes, or any other property, so as to prevent his making use of them; watching or besetting his house or place of busi- mess, &c. Both this and the Master and Servant Act of 1867 were most unpopular with the working classes, who felt them, and particularly the former, as espe- cially directed against unions of working men. (e) The Industrial and Provident Societies Amend- ment Act (34 & 35 Vic. c. 80) gave increased powers to societies of this class to build, sell, lease, or mortgage houses, cottages, or other buildings; and also gave facilities as to copyhold. In the following year a new Arbitration Act was passed (35 & 36 Vic. c. 46), so as to enable masters and WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 243 workmen to settle their disputes by the appointment of one or more arbitrators, or an umpire, in case the latter disagreed. Any agreement entered into under this Act was binding upon both parties, provided that a workman gave notice within forty-eight hours, that he declined to be bound by it. A certain number of days' notice (not exceeding six) had to be given by employer or employed, in case of an intention to cease employing or serving, where such notice was made part of the agreement. (b) The Coal Mines Regulation Act of this year (35 & 36 Vic. c.76) considerably extended the super- vision over this class of operatives. Managers of collieries were required to be certificated after exami- nation for competency by a district board, although a certificate of service could be given to those managers who had served up to a certain date before the Act, while some additional rules were laid down as to the qualifications and duties of the inspectors. The follow- ing restrictions were made as to employment under- ground, viz. Women and girls, not at all; boys under twelve, not at all, except in cases of very thin seams; boys under thirteen and young persons under sixteen, not more than ten hours per day or fifty-four hours per week, with an interval of twelve hours for rest between each two consecutive periods of employment; none of these boys to go under-ground without being reported to the manager. Above-ground, children under ten not to be employed at all; under thirteen, for not more than six days per week or more than six hours per day, if the employment extended to more than three days 244 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1873. per week. Every boy between ten and twelve was required to attend school for at least twenty hours in every two weeks; and stringent rules were laid down with reference to this part of the Act. An elaborate system of directions was also provided for the safety of the workpeople, embracing the inspection of gaseous and non-gaseous mines, withdrawal of work- men in case of danger, safety lamps, gunpowder and blasting, fencing of shafts, manholes and places of refuge, signalling, raising, &c.; while facilities were provided for inspection of the mine on behalf of the workmen as well as of the owners. The Act also provided for arbitration in cases where the owner was unwilling to comply with the demands of the inspector. (c) The Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act (35 & 36 Vic. c. 77) included all mines except those of coal and ironstone, which were under the preceding Act. Hitherto the metalliferous mines had been overlooked, but they were now placed under as strict supervision as those of coal, and the provisions of the two Acts were, in the main, identical. In this year a new Agricultural Act was passed (36 & 37 Vic. c. 67), which came into force in 1875. It prohibited the employment of any child under eight in agricultural work, except by the parent of the child, who worked land in his own occupation; and it also restricted the employment of any child above eight without a certificate of age and of the completion of two hundred and fifty school attendances, if under ten years of age, and one hundred and fifty attendances, if WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 245 ten or upwards. There were, however, exemptions in the case of children employed in harvest or hopping, or who were unable to attend school. The age of eight, the lowest allowable for employment in agricul- tural gangs, was also extended to ten. In 1874 a very important Act was brought forward, 1874. viz. the Factory Act—health of women, young per- sons, and children (37 & 88 Vic. c. 44). It dealt prin- cipally with the hours of labour and times of meals, and provided that the period of work should be be- tween 6 A.M. and 6 P.M., or 7 A.M. and 7 P.M.; that no one should be employed continuously for more than four and a half hours without an interval of half an hour for a meal, and that two hours should be allowed for meals each day, except Saturday. Children might be em- ployed in morning or afternoon sets, or on alternate days for the whole day. The Act also enacted that after January 1, 1876, the age of a “child” should be extended to fourteen, unless a certain standard of educational proficiency was attained. During 1875 a child could not be employed in a factory if under nine, nor at the end of that year under ten. The Factory Act of 1850, which permitted longer hours for children in lace establishments, was repealed. (b) The Workmen's Dwellings Act (37 & 88 Vic. c. 59) allowed municipal corporations to grant or lease their land "to anyone who bound themselves to erect Working-class dwellings upon it. (c) The Hosiery Manufacture and Wages Act (37 & 88 Vic. c. 48) forbid employers in that trade to let out knitting frames and machinery to their work- 246 BRITISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 1875. people, deducting the rent from the price of the work. This Act struck at the root of one of the greatest evils in the Midland districts. All work from henceforth was to be paid for met without any deductions, except for bad workmanship. The year 1875 was somewhat prolific in working- class legislation. (a) More stringent regulations were laid down about chimney sweepers (38 & 39 Vic. c. 70), who were required to be registered and obtain a certifi- cate before they could practise their trade. There is no doubt but that this Act will tend to make the craft more respectable. (b) The Employers and Workmen's Act (38 & 39 Wic. c. 90) gave powers to the County Court as to ordering of payments, adjusting or setting off one against the other, recision of contract, and taking of security. A dispute might also be heard before justices, and payment ordered, when the amount did not exceed 10l. Justices were given jurisdiction in disputes between masters and apprentices. In the case of factory children, young persons, and women, for- feiture for absence or leaving work might not be deducted as a set-off against a wages claim, further than the amount of damage sustained by the employer in consequence of the absence. ~ (c) By the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act (38 & 39 Vic. c. 86) it was ordered, that an agree- ment or combination by two or more persons to do any act in furtherance of a trade dispute should not be indictable as a conspiracy, as long as that act Was not one which was punishable as a crime. Punishment WORKING-CLASS LEGISLATION. 247 was provided in cases of breach of contract by persons employed in the supplying of gas and water ; and also when such breach of contract involved injury to per- sons or property. There were also penalties for neglect by masters to provide the proper necessaries for ap- prentices, as well as penalties for intimidation or annoyance. (d) The Artisans' Dwellings Act (38 & 39 Vic. c. 36) was the most comprehensive effort that has been yet made to grapple with the growing evil of close and unhealthy dwellings for the working classes in our large cities and towns—“unfit for human habitation, causing death and loss of health, not only in the courts and alleys, but also in other parts of such cities and boroughs.” The difficulty lay in the fact, that the streets in question belonged to so many owners, that it was not in the power of any one owner to make the needful alterations. The Act applied to London, and to urban sanitary districts containing a population of twenty-five thousand and upwards; and it empowered the local authority, on being satisfied by official repre- sentation of the unhealthiness of any district, to make and carry out a scheme for its improvement. The machinery for this official representation and for the subsequent improvement schemes was made as simple as possible; and ample powers were given to any local authority to borrow money for these purposes. The speedy action that was taken in some of the worst dis- tricts, both in London, Birmingham, and other towns, while the Act was yet in its infancy, proved how greatly a reform was needed in this matter. ( 249 ) Army clothing factory Artificial flower making .. Conditions of labour Processes Statistics Wages Bakers Biscuit works Conditions of labour .. Former ditto.. Legislation Mortality Statistics Wages tº ºf Bleaching . . . . . . Divisions of labou Operatives Sanitary conditions Scotch barracks .. Wages gº tº Boot and shoe making Divisions of labour Mortality Operatives Statistics Wages Brewing Localities Mortality I N D E X. PAGE 13 Operatives . . . . 154 Publicans . . . . 155 Sanitary conditions 155 Statistics 156 155 | Canal boatmen. Overcrowding I75 Wages gº & 179 | Carpets . . . . . . 178 Divisions of labour 177 Statistics I77 Wages 179 Chimney sweeps 180 Former treatment 178 Legislation .. 120 | Clothing 122 Statistics 120 | Co-operative societies 124 | Cotton 125 Divisions of labour I26 Factory physique .. 142 Factory system 144 Hours of labour .. 146 Indian cotton 142 Legislation .. 146 Married women 146 Mortality 191 Mule spinning 19 Operatives I93 Sanitary conditions T PAGE I92 193 193 194 20S 209 2II 74 75 76 76 204 205 204 ... 131 5, 158 219 12 25 10 & Y Zº) 34 27 24 26 I7 14 250 INDEX. Sizing Spinning Statistics Wages Weaving Dress .. Makers . . . . . . . . Statistics . . . . 5, Dyeing . . . . . . Divisions of labour Legislation Statistics * - Turkey-red dyeing Wages Factory statistics Feather dressing Statistics e - - Federation of working classes Flax and linen .. Divisions of labour Mortality Operatives Sanitary conditions Scutching Statistics Wages Fish curing Fisheries Herring curing Legislation Operatives Pilchard curing Food industries Friendly societies PAGE 21 Fustian cutting 16 Conditions of labour 30 Operatives 28 Processes 19 Wages 131 Gºvers - 132 Operatives ſº Processes º 15S Sanitar * g º anitary conditions 126 Wages 126 t 127 | Hair weaving .. 129 Operatives 127 Statistics 128 || Hatters Operatives 5 Processes 156 Statistics I 56 Wages .. Hosiery is 4 & © 215 Divisions of labour 35 Earnings 40 Elastic web .. 45 Ilocalities 35 Operatives 41 Statistics 3S 46 | India-rubber 45 Conditions of labour .. 200 Operatives 201 Statistics 202 Wages 203 202 || Jute .. 202 Operatives 173 Statistics 221 Wages PAGE II () II 2 I 13 III II.3 147 147 148 149 I49 119 II 8 II9 149 149 150 151 150 105 106 108 108 105 106 109 169 170 169 171 17I 49 49 52 52 INDEX. 251 Lace making Divisions of labour Earnings Finishing Operatives Sanitary conditions Pillow lace Statistics Leather Milliners .. Earnings ... .. Sanitary conditions Preserved provisions Operatives Statistics Printing and dyeing Railway servants Accidents Rope making º Conditions of labour Hemp dressing Legislation Mortality Operatives Twine spinning Statistics Wages Salt g Brine works .. Mining . . . . . . Sanitary conditions Statistics Wages PAGE 94 | Seamstresses ... 97 Conditions of labour 96, 100 Wages 97 | Shoddy 95 || Silk e 98 Competition .. - - 101 Differences in the trade 101 T)ivisions of labour 159 Localities Operatives 132 Sanitary conditions 136 Spitalfields 134 Statistics Thread .. 198 Trimmings 199 Wages I99 Waste 126 Straw plait . Evils of trade 2II Hat making gº tº 213 Making.. 163 Markets .. 166 Operatives I65 Schools e e 167 Statistics 167 Wages s 164 | Sugar refining .. - tº 166 Conditions of labour .. 168 Operatives 16S Statistics Tailors • * * * * * 181 Army clothing factory IS3 Mortality - 182 Operatives 182 Sanitary conditions 184 || Tanning 183 Currying PAGE 151 152 153 77 80 SS 83 82 S0 85 S7 91 86 87 S8 85 II.3 115 117 116 II6 114 114 118 117 195 196 196 197 137 139 13S 137 138 159 161 INDEX. Divisions of labour Mortality Operatives Statistics Wages .. Textiles Statistics Tobacco & gº e Conditions of labour Duty Earnings Mortality Operatives Sanitary conditions Statistics g PAGE 160 | Warehousemen.. 161 159 Woollens .. Q Alpaca works 162 * - e. Divisions of labour 161 O - I peratives * * * Treatment of children.. 2 tº 8 - 185 Statistics Q 186 Wages 190 Worsted -> 189 Divisions of labour ISS Saltaire .. 185 Wages 187 || Working class federation 189 Co-operative societies .. 215 Friendly societies 157 Legislation .. 157 Trades unions 157 PAGE 55 62 59 55 63 66 Trades unions . . . . |Umbrella making Sanitary conditions Statistics LONDON : PRINTED BY EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS, S.W. 69 70 72 73 2] 5 219 2IS 221 215 FEBRUARY, 1877. SELECTIE D LIST OF EDWARD STANFORDS PUBLICATIONS 55, CHARING CROSS, LONDON. $ooks. ADDERLE.Y. —COLONIAL POLICY and HISTORY-REVIEW of “The COLONIAL POLICY OF LORD J. RUSSELL’S ADMINISTRATION, BY EARL GREY, 1853,” and of SUBSEQUENT COLONIAL HISTORY. By the Right Hon. Sir C. B. ADDERLEY, K.C.M.G., M.P. 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Crown 8vo, cloth, with Frontispiece and Map, 68. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London, 6 SELECTED LIST. Łibrary or úall ºtlaps. EUROPE.-Scale, 50 miles to an inch ; size, 65 inches by 58. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, 31. 13s.6d. ; on roller, warnished, 3l. ; spring roller, 6l. - IENGLAND and WALES.—Scale, 5 miles to an inch ; size, 72 inches by 84. Coloured, 21. 12s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in morocco case, 31. 13s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 4!. 4s. ; spring roller, 6l. 6s. LONDON arid its SUBUIRIBS.—On the scale of six inches to a mile : constructed on the basis of the Ordnance block plan. Price, in sheets, plain, 21s. ; coloured, in a portfolio, 31s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in morocco case, or on roller, warnished, 21. 15s. ; on spring roller, 5l. 5s. Single sheets, plain, 1s. ; coloured, 1s. 6d. A Key Map may be had on application, or per post for One Stamp. SCOTLAND.—Scale, five miles to an inch; size, 52 inches by 76. Coloured, 42s. ; mounted on linen, in morocco case, 31. 3s. ; on roller, varnished, 31.13s.6d.; spring roller, 5l. 5s. IIRELAND.—Scale, 4 miles to an inch; size, 66 inches by 81. Coloured, ll. Ils. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in morocco case, 21. 12s. 6d. ; or, on roller, varnished, 31. 3s. ; spring roller, 5l. 5s. ASIA.—Scale, 110 miles to an inch ; size, 65 inches by 58. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, 31.13s.6d. ; on roller, varnished, 3!. ; spring roller, 6l. AFRICA.—Scale, 94 miles to an inch ; size, 58 inches by 65. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, 31. 13s.6d. ; on roller, varnished, 31. ; Spring roller, 6l. NORTH AIMIERICA.—Scale, 83 miles to an inch; size, 58 inches by 65. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, 3l. 13s. 6d. ; On roller, varnished, 31. ; spring roller, 6l. CANADA.—LARGE MAP of CANADA, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and a large portion of the United States. By JOHN ARROWSMITH. Scale, 15% miles to an inch ; size, 96 inches by 54. Eight Coloured Sheets. TJNITED STATES and CENTRAL AMERICA, with Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. Scale, 54% miles to an inch ; size, 72 inches by 56. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, 3l. 13s.6d. ; on roller, warnished, 3l.; Spring roller, 6l. SOUTH AIMERICA.—Scale, 83 miles to an inch; size, 58 inches by 65. Coloured and mounted on linen, morocco case, 3!. 13s. 6d: on Toller, varnished, 3!.; spring roller, 6l. ATUSTRALASIA.—Scale, 64 miles to an inch ; size, 65 inches by 58. Coloured and mounted on linen, morocco case, 31.13s.6d. ; on roller, varnished, 3l.; Spring roller, 6l. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London, GENERAL MAPS. 7 Örneral ºtlaps. IETUTIF, OIFTE_ EUROPE.—STANFORD’S PORTABLE MAP of EUROPE; showing the latest Political Boundaries, the Railways, the Submarine Telegraphs, &c. Scale, 150 miles to an inch; size, 36 inches by 33. Fully coloured and mounted on linen, in case, 10s. ; On roller, varnished, 14s. CENTRAL EUROPE.-DAVIES'S MAP of CENTRAL EUROPE; containing all the Railways, with their Stations. The principal roads, the rivers, and chief mountain ranges are clearly delineated. Scale, 24 miles to an inch ; size, 47 inches by 38. Sheets, plain, 10s. ; coloured, 12s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 16s. AUSTRIAN EMIPIRE. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 28 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. IDENIMARK and ICELAND. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 13 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. FRANCE, in DEPARTMENTS. With a Supplementary Map, divided into Provinces, and a Map of the Island of Corsica. By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale, 31 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5S. GREECE and the IONIAN ISLANDS. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 15 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in CaSe, 5S. ITALY, including Sicily and the Maltese Islands. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 20 miles to an inch; in two sheets, size of each 22 inches by 26. Price of each, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5S. NETHERLANDS and BBLGIUMI, including Luxembourg and the Country to the East as far as the Rhine. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 13 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. RUSSIA and POLAND, including Finland. By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale, 90 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in CaSe, 5S. SPAIN and PORTUGAL. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 30 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. SWEDEN and NORWAY. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 35 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. SWITZERTAND. By J. ARROwsMITH. Scale, 104 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. TURE EY in EUROPE, including the Archipelago, Greece, the Ionian Islands, and the South part of Dalmatia. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 40 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. 8 SELECTED LIST. IEEITISIEEE ISI ITES. IENGLAND and WALES.—LARGE SCALE RAILWAY and STATION MAP of ENGLAND and WALES. In 24 sheets (sold separately). Con- structed on the basis of the trigonometrical survey. By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale, 3 miles to an inch ; size of each sheet, 20 inches by 28. Price, plain, 1s.; mounted in case, 2s. 6d.; coloured, 1s. 6d. ; mounted in case, 3s. Size of the complete map, 114 inches by 128. Price, plain, in case or portfolio, Il. 5s.; coloured, in case or portfolio, ll. 8s. ; mounted on cloth to fold, in case, coloured, 41.4s. ; on canvas, roller, and varnished, 4!. 14s. 6d. : on spring roller, 9t. 9s. FNGLAND and WALES.—STANFORD’S PORTABLE MAP of ENG- LAND and WALES. With the Railways very clearly delineated; the Cities and Towns distinguished according to their Population, &c. Scale, 15 miles to an inch ; size, 28 inches by 32. Coloured and mounted on linen, in case, 5s. ; or on roller, warnished, 8s. WALES.—NORTH and SOUTH WALES. Re-issue of Walker's Maps, thoroughly revised and corrected to the present date. Scale, 3 miles to an inch. Each in sheet, 32 inches by 27, coloured, 3s. ; mounted to fold in case for the pocket, 6s. SCOTLAND, in COUNTIES. With the Roads, Rivers, &c. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 12 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3S. ; mounted in case, 5s. IRELAND, in COUNTIES and BARONIES, on the basis of the Ordnance Survey and the Census. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 31 inches by 38. On two sheets, coloured, 8s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, warnished, 15s. IRELAND, in COUNTIES. With the Roads, Rivers, &c. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 12 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. T 1 OINTT DOINT_ COLLINS” STANDARD IMAP of LONDON is admirably adapted for visitors to the City. Scale, 4 inches to a mile ; size, 34% inches by 27. Price, plain, in case, ls.; coloured, ls. 6d. ; mounted on linen, ditto, 3s. 6d. ; on roller, Varnished, 7s. 6d. BRITISH METROPOLIS.—DAVIES'S NEW MAP of the BRITISH METROPOLIS. Scale, 3 inches to a mile ; size, 36 inches by 25%. Price, plain sheet, 3s. 6d. ; coloured, 5s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 7s.6d. ; on roller, varnished, 10s. 6d. With continuation southward beyond the Crystal Palace, plain sheet, 5s. ; coloured, 7s.6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, lls. ; on roller, varnished, 15s. IRAILWAY MIAIP of LONDON and IEN VIIB.ONS.—STANFORD’S SPECIAL MAP of the RAILWAYS, RAILWAY STATIONS, TRAM- WAYS, POSTAL DISTRICTS, and SUB-DISTRICTS, in LONDON and its ENVIRONS. Scale, 1 inch to a mile; size, 24 inches by 26. Price, coloured and folded, 1s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 3s. ENVIRONS of LONDON. — DAVIES'S MAP of the ENVIRONS of LONDON. Scale, 1 inch to a mile ; size, 43 inches by 32. Price, sheet, plain, 4S.; coloured 5s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 88. ; or on roller, Varnished, 148. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. GENERAL MAPS. 9 A-SI.A.-- GENERAL MAP OF ASIA.—By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale, 300 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 58. NORTHERN ASIA, including Siberia, Kamtschatka, Japan, Mantchooria, Mongolia, Tchoongaria, Tibet, and the Himalaya Mountains. By J. ARROW- SMITH. Scale, 170 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 4s. ; mounted, in case, 7s. CENTRAL ASIA.—STANFORD'S MAP of CENTRAL ASIA, including Teheran, Khiva, Bokhara, Kokan, Yarkand, Kabul, Herat, &c. Scale, 110 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 17. Coloured sheet, 2s. 6d.; mounted, in case, 5s. ASIA MINOR, &c. (TURKEY in ASIA). With portions of Persia, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasian Mountains. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 55 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in Case, 5S. INDIA.—STANFORD’S NEW PORTABLE MAP of INDIA. Exhibiting the Present Divisions of the Country according to the most Recent Surveys. Scale, 86 miles to an inch; size, 29 inches by 33. Coloured, 6s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 8s. ; on roller, varnished, 11s. - INDIA.—MAP of INDIA. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 90 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. CEYLON.—MAP of CEYLON. Constructed from a Base of Triangulations and corresponding Astronomical Observations. By Major-General JoHN FRASER, late Deputy-Quartermaster-General. Reconstructed by JoHN ARROWSMITH. Scale, 4 miles to an inch; size, 52 inches by 78. Eight sheets, coloured, 27. 5s. ; mounted, in case, 31. 13s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 4l. 4s. ; spring roller, 6l. 16S. 66. CEYLON.—COFFEE ESTATES of CEYLON. Map showing the Position of the Coffee Estates in the Central Province of Ceylon. By J. ARRowsMITH. Size, 15 inches by 20. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. BURMAH, &c.—A Map showing the various Routes proposed for connecting China with India and Europe through Burmah, and developing the Trade of Eastern Bengal, Burmah, and China. Prepared under the direction of JoBN QGILVY HAY, F.R.G.S., Scale, 33 miles to an inch; size, 27 inches by 32. Coloured, 3s.; mounted, in case, 5s. BURNIAH and ADJACENT COUNTRIES. — Compiled from various MSS., and other Documents. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 24 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. CHINA.—MAP of CHINA. By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale, 90 miles to an inch; Size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. CELINA and JAPAN.—STANFORD’S MAP of the EMPIRES of CHINA and JAPAN, with the Adjacent Parts of British India, Asiatic Russia, Burmah, &c. Scale, 110 miles to an inch; size, 38 inches by 24. One sheet, full coloured, 8s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, warnished, 14s. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. 10 SELECTED LIST. -AIFIERIC A-- GENERAL MAP of AFRICA.—By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale, 260 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. BGYPT.-MAP of EGYPT. Compiled from the most authentic materials, and founded on the best Astronomical Observations. By Colonel W. M. LEAKE, R.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Scale, 10 miles to an inch; size, 34 inches by 52. Two sheets, coloured, 21s. ; mounted, in case, 28s. ; on roller, warnished, 36s. EGYPT.-MAP of EGYPT: including the Peninsula of Mount Sinai. By J. ARROWSMITH, New Edition. Scale, 26 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. AFRICA (NORTH-WEST).—MAP of NORTH-WEST AFRICA, in- cluding the Coast of Guinea, and the Isle of Fernando Po, on the South, and the Western parts of Egypt and Darfur, on the East. By J. ARRowsyſITH. Scale, 130 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in Case, 5S. AFRICA (SOUTEI).—MAP of SOUTH AFRICA to 16 deg. South Latitude. By HENRY HALL, Draughtsman to the Royal Engineers, Cape Town. Scale, 50 miles to an inch ; size, 34 inches by 28. Two sheets, coloured, 10s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 13s.6d.; on roller, varnished, 15s. AFRICA (SOUTH-EASTERN). — MAP of SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. Compiled by HENRY HALL. Scale, 25 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, 4s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 68. AFRICA (WEST COAST).—MAP of the WEST COAST of AFRICA. Comprising Guinea and the British Possessions at Sierra Leone, on the Gambia, and the Gold Coast, &c. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 50 miles to an inch. Two coloured sheets; size of each, 22 inches by 26, 6s. Mounted, in case, 10s. CAPE of GOOD HOPE and SOUTH AFRICA —MAP of SOUTH AFRICA, Cape Colony, Natal, &c. By HENRY HALL. Scale 50 miles to an inch; size, 29 inches by 17. Sheet, price 4s. 6d. ; mounted, in case, 6s. 6d. CAPE COLONY (EASTERN FRONTIER).—MAP of the EASTERN FRONTIER of the CAPE COLONY. Compiled by HENRY HALL. Scale, 8 miles to an inch; size, 40 inches by 38. Sheets, 18s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 25s. ; on roller, warnished, 31s. 6d. NATAL.-A MAP of the COLONY of NATAL. By ALExANDER MAIR, Land Surveyor, Natal. Compiled from the Diagrams and General Plans in the Surveyor-General’s Office, and from Data furnished by P. C. SUTHERLAND, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., Surveyor-General. Scale, 4 miles to an inch ; size, 54 inches by 80. Coloured, Four Sheets, 21. 5s. ; mounted, in case, or on rollers, varnished, 31. NATAL.-MAP of the COLONY of NATAL. Compiled in the Surveyor- General's Office. Size, 113 inches by 14}. Sheet, coloured, 1s. ; mounted, in case, 2s. 6d. NUPIA and ABYSSINIA, including Darfur, Kordofan, and part of Arabia. By J. ARRowsMITH. Scale 65 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 58. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. GENERAL MAPS. 11 -AIMITEIF.I.C.A.-- IBRITISH COLUIMIBIA.—NEW MAP of BRITISH COLUMBIA, to the 56th Parallel North Latitude, showing the New Gold Fields of Omineca, the most recent discoveries at Cariboo and other places, and the proposed routes for the Inter-Oceanic Railway. Scale, 25 miles to an inch; size, 39 inches by 27. Price, in sheet, coloured, 7 s. 6d. ; or mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. CANADA.—MAP of UPPER and LOWER CANADA, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward’s Island, Cape Breton Island, Newfoundland, and a large portion of the United States. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 35 miles to an inch; size, 40 inches by 26. Two sheets, coloured, 6s. ; mounted, in case, 10s. ; on Toller, warnished, 15S. TJNITED STATES and CANADA.—STANFORD’S NEW RAILWAY and COUNTY MAP of the UNITED STATES and TERRITORIES, together with Canada, New Brunswick, &c. Scale 544 miles to an inch ; size, 57 inches by 36. Two sheets, coloured, 21S. ; case, 25s. ; on rollers, varnished, 30s. TJNITED STATES.–STANFORD'S HANDY MAP of the UNITED STATES. Scale, 90 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 25. Coloured sheet, 7s.6d. ; mounted, in case, 10s. 6d. ; On roller, Warnished, läs. TJNITED STATES.—STANFORD'S SMALLER RAILWAY MAP of the UNITED STATES. Scale, 120 miles to an inch; size, 29 inches by 174. Two sheets, coloured, 4s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 6s. 6d. CENTRAL AMERICA.—BAILEY'S MAP of CENTRAL AMERICA, including the States of Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Scale, 8 miles to an inch; size, 40 inches by 27. Sheet, 7s.6d.; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, warnished 14s. MEXICO.-A GENERAL MAP of the REPUBLIC of MEXICO. By the Brigadier-General PEDRO GARCIA CONDE. Engraved from the Original Survey made by order of the Mexican Government. Size, 50 inches by 37. Sheets, price, 10s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 18s. IBERMUDAS.–MAP of the BERMUDAS. Published by direction of His Excellency Major-General J. H. LEFROY, C.B., R.A., Governor and Commander- in-Chief of the Bermudas. Scale, 23 miles to an inch; size, 62 inches by 63. Mounted, in case, or on roller, varnished, 21s. WEST, INDIA ISLANDS and GUATEMIALA.—Showing the Colonies in possession of the various European Powers. By J. ARRowsAIITH. Scale, 90 miles to an inch; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. JAMAICA.—A NEW MAP of the ISLAND OF JAMAICA. Prepared by THOMAS HARRISON, Government Surveyor, Kingston, Jamaica, under the direc- tion of Major-General J. R. MANN, R.E., Director of Roads and Surveyor-General. Scale, 2% miles to an inch : size, 64 inches by 27. Mounted, in case, or on roller, varnished, 21s. BARBADOES.—Topographical Map, based upon Mayo's Original Survey in 1721, and corrected to the year 1846. By Sir Robert H. SCHOMBURGH, K.R.E. Scale, 2 miles to an inch; size, 40 inches by 50. Two sheets, coloured, 21S. ; mounted, in case, 28S. ; on roller, varnished, 37s. - Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. 12 SELECTED LIST. -A-TDTSTIER-A-T-I-A-SI.A.-- AUSTRALIA.—From Surveys made by order of the British Government, com- bined with those of D'Entre, Casteaux, Baudin, Freycinet, &c. By J. ARROW- SMITH. Scale, 80 miles to an inch. On two sheets; size of each, 22 inches by 26. Sheets, coloured, 6s. ; mounted, in case, 10s. AUSTRALIA. — Constructed from Official and other original Documents, adjusted to the Maritime Survey of Flinders, King, Wickham, Stokes, Black- wood, Stanley, &c. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 27 miles to an inch. In Nine Sheets. [Preparing. WESTERN AUSTRALIA.—With Plans of Perth, Fremantle, and Guild- ford. From the Surveys of John Septimus Roe, Esq., Surveyor-General, and from other Official Documents in the Colonial Office and Admiralty. By J. ARROW- SMITH. Scale, 16 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 22. Two sheets, coloured, 6S. ; in Case, 10.S. SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—Showing the Division into Counties of the settled portions of the Province. With Situation of Mines of Copper and Lead. From the Surveys of Capt. Frome, ‘R.E., Surveyor-General of the Colony. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 14 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, Coloured, 3S. ; in case, 58. QUEENSLAND.—STANFORD’S NEW MAP of the PROVINCE of QUEENSLAND (North-Eastern Australia): Compiled from the most reli- able Authorities. Scale, 64 miles to an inch ; size, 18 inches by 23. In sheets, coloured, 2s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 4S. 6d. VICTORIA.—A NEW MAP of the PROVINCE of VICTORIA (Australia): Showing all the Roads, Rivers, Towns, Counties, Gold Diggings, Sheep and Cattle Stations, &c. Scale, 20 miles to an inch ; size, 31 inches by 21. In sheet, 2s. 6d. ; or mounted on linen, in case, 4S. 6d. NEW ZEALAND.—STANFORD'S MAP of NEW ZEALAND: Compiled from the most recent Documents. Scale, 64 miles to an inch ; size, 17 inches by 19. Full-coloured, in sheet, 2s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 3s. 6d. INEW ZEALAND.—From Official Documents. By J. ARROWSMITH. Scale, 38 miles to an inch; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in Case, 58. NELSON and MARLBOROUGH.—A NEW MAP of the PRO- VINCES of NELSON and MARLBOROUGH, in New Zealand, with Cook's Strait, and the Southern Part of the Province of Wellington. Scale, 8 miles to an inch. Size, 40 inches by 27. In sheet, coloured, 7s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. TASMANIA (Van Diemen’s Land).-From MS. Surveys in the Colonial Office, and in the Van Diemen's Land Company's Office. By J. ARROW- SMITH. Scale, 104 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 38. ; mounted in case, 58. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London, SCHOOL MAPS. 13 School flaps. STANFORD’S NEW SERIES OF SCHOOL MAPS. Prepared under the direction of the SocIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE and of the NATIONAL SOCIETY, are patronized by Her Majesty’s Government for the Army and Navy Schools, the Commissioners of National Education for Ireland, the School Boards of London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Brighton, Bristol, Bradford, Canterbury, Derby, Glasgow, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Leicester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Notting- ham, Oldham, Perth, Scarborough, Stockton, Sunderland, West Bromwich, &c., and are used in the chief Educational Establishments of Great Britain and the Colonies. The Series comprises the following Maps, size 58 inches by 50, coloured, mounted, and varnished, each 13s. :— IEastern Hermisphere. England. Africa. Western Hemisphere. Asia. North America. Europe. Holy Land. South America. British Isles. India. Australasia. Also, size 42 inches by 34, each 9s. Scotland. | Ireland. | Australia. | New Zealand. Old Testament. | New Testament. || Acts and Epistles. Journeyings of the Israelites. The British Isles. Size 75 inches by 90, price 42s. The World in Hemispheres. Size 102 inches by 90, price 26s. This New Series of Large School Maps has been drawn and engraved with the utmost care, and is constructed upon the principle of combining with geographical accuracy and systematic arrangement the bold outline and lettering requisite for teaching. STANFORD'S SMALLER SERIES OF SCHOOL MAPS. Published under the direction of the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOW- LEDGE and of the NATIONAL SOCIETY. These new Maps retain all the character- istic boldness of the larger series, and are specially suitable for small classes. The following are ready, coloured, and mounted on rollers, warnished, 6s. ; or in coloured sheet, 2s. 6d. ; size, 32 inches by 27. Eastern Hemisphere. Asia. North America. Western Hemisphere. EIoly Land. India. The Hemispheres can be had mounted as one Map, coloured, and mounted on rollers, varnished, 12s. ; size, 54 inches by 32. Also, coloured, and mounted on rollers, varnished, 4s. ; or in coloured sheet, ls. 6d. ; size, l'î inches by 22. Old Testament. || New Testament. | Acts and Epistles. Maps of South America, Australia, and New Zealand are preparing, and will shortly be issued. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London, 14 SELECTED LIST. STANFORD’S NEW PEIYSICAL SERIES OF WALL MAPS, for use in Schools and Colleges. Edited by Professor RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S., &c., Director-General of the Geological Surveys of the United Kingdom. Size, 50 inches by 58, mounted on rollers and varnished, each, 30s. British Isles. Furope. North America. England and Wales. Africa. | South America. Also, size, 34 inches by 42, mounted on rollers and varnished, each, 8s. Scotland. | Ireland. VARTY'S IEDUCATIONAL SERIES of CHEAP WALL MAPS, for class teaching, constructed by ARRowsMITH, WALKER, &c. New and revised editions, coloured, mounted, and varnished. The World in Hemispheres. Size, 51 inches by 26. Price 12s. The World (Mercator). Size, 50 inches by 32, Price 10s. The British Isles. Size, 51 inches by 41. Price 10s. Also the following, each 6s., size, 34 inches by 26:— Europe. - Australia. Journeyings Of Asia. IErngland. the Children of Africa. Scotland. Israel. America. Ireland. S. Paul’s Voyages New Zealand. Roman Empire. and Travels. VARTY'S LARGE OUTLINE MAPS. Price, in plain sheet, 2s. ; coloured, 3s. ; mounted on rollers, 7S. The World (globular), 2 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 3 inches. Price, in plain sheet, 1s. ; coloured, ls. 6d. The World (Mercator), 21 inches by 15 in. And the following, plain sheet, 1s. 3d. ; coloured, 1s. 6d.; mounted on rollers, 4s. ; size, 2 feet 10 inches by 2 feet 2 inches. IEurope. Armerica. Ireland. Asia. England. Palestine (O. Test.). Africa. Scotland. | Palestine (N. Test.). STANFORD’S OTTLINE MAPS. Size, 17 inches by 14, printed on drawing paper. A Series of Geographical Exercises, to be filled in from the Useful Knowledge Society’s Maps and Atlases. Price 6d. each. STANFORD’S PIROJECTION SERIES. Uniform in size, price, &c., with Stanford’s Outlines. The OXFORD SERIES of OTUTLINE MAPS. Size, 16 inches by 14. Price 3d. each. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. NATURAL HISTORY DIAGRAMS, &c. 15 Stamforn's Jiagrams of Šiatural jistorm. THESE Diagrams, compiled by the eminent Scientific Men whose names are appended, are drawn with the strictest regard to Nature, and the Plates have been engraved in the best style of art. The Series consists of Twelve Subjects, each arranged so that it may be mounted in one sheet, or be divided into four sections and folded in the form of a book, thus rendering them available either for Class Exercises or indi- vidual study. - Price of each, mounted on roller and warnished, 6s. ; or folded in book form, 4s. Characteristic British Fossils. By J. W. LOWRY, F.R.G.S. Characteristic British Tertiary Fossils. By J. W. LowRY, F.R.G.S. IFossil Crustacea. By J. W. SALTER, A.L.S., F.G.S., and H. WooDWARD, F.G.S., F.Z.S. - - The Vegetable Kingdom. By A. HENFREY. - The Orders and Farmilies of Mollusca. By Dr. WooDWARD. Myriapoda, Arachnida, Crustacea, Annelida, and Entozoa. By ADAM WHITE, and Dr. BAIRD. Insects. By ADAM WHITE. IFishes. By P. H. GossE. Reptilia, and Amphibia. By Drs. BELL and BAIRD. Birds. By GEORGE GRAY. Mammalia. By Dr. BAIRD. British Sedimentary and Fossiliferous Strata. By H. W. BRISTOW, F.R.S., F.G.S. 3rding's 3mptobrú (ſatechisms. EDITED BY ROBERT JAMES MANN, M.D., F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S., late Super- ALGEBRA. ASTRONOMY. BOTANY. CHEMISTRY. - ENGLISH GRAMMAR. ENGLISH HISTORY. FRENCH GRAMMAR. FRENCH HISTORY. BRITISH CONSTITUTION. CLASSICAL BIOGRAPHY. GENERAL GEOGRAPHY. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. GRECIAN ANTIQUITIES. intendent of Education in Natal. Price 9d. each. GRECTAN HISTORY. IRISH HISTORY. ITALIAN GRAMMAR. JEWISH ANTIQUITIES. MUSIC. MYTHOLOGY. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. ROMAN HISTORY, SACRED HISTORY. SCOTTISH HISTORY. UNIVERSAL HISTORY. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London, 16 SELECTED LIST. Scripture am 3nimal prints. PIRECEPTIVE III, USTRATIONS OF TEIE BIBLE. A. Series of Fifty-two Prints to aid Scriptural Instruction, selected in part by the Author of ‘Lessons on Objects.” The whole from Original Designs by S. BENDIxEN, Artist, expressly for this Work. They have been recently re-engraved, and are carefully coloured. Size, 173, inches by 13. Price of the Work. The Set of 52 Prints, in Paper Wrapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52s. *º-º-º-º: in One Volume, bandsomely half-bound . . . . 60s. in Warty’s Oak Frame, with glass, lock and key 60s. Single Prints, 1s. each ; mounted on millboard, 1s. 4d. each. VARTY'S SELECT SERIES of DOMIESTIC and WILD ANIMALS, Drawn from Nature and from the Works of Eminent Artists. In 36 carefully-coloured Plates, exhibiting 130 Figures. Size, 12 inches by 9. The selection of Animals has been limited to those which are most known and best adapted to elicit inquiry from the young, and afford scope for instruction and application. Bound In Franne in Cloth. and Glass. Set of 36 Prints, Coloured . . . . . . 18S. tº º 24S. gº º 24S. *-º-º-º-º: Plain. . . . . . . . 12.S. . . .17s. . . . 18S. Single Prints, coloured, 6d. ; mounted on millboard, 10d. The ANIMAL KINGIDOM at ONE VIEW, clearly exhibiting, on four beautifully-coloured Plates containing 184 Illustrations, the relative sizes of Animals to Man, and their comparative sizes With each other, as arranged in Divisions, Orders, &c., according to the method of Baron Cuvier. Exhibited on four limperial Sheets, each 30 inches by 22:— | Cloth, Rollers, and Warnished. Sheets. s-ºsmºs Complete Set, Animals and Landscape, full coloured . . 38S. 18S. Animals only coloured . . . . . . . . 35S. 15S. Single Plates, full coloured & e º e º $ 10S. 5S. VARTY'S GRAPHIC III,USTRATIONS of ANIMALS, showing their Utility to Man, in their Services during Life and Uses after Death. Beautifully coloured. Size, 15 inches by 12. Price, the set, 31s. 6d. ; in frame, with glass, lock and key, 39s. 6d. ; OT half-bound in leather, and lettered, 1 vol. folio, 428. The 21 separate Prints may also be had, price, 1s. 6d. each. O). Mounted on Millboard, 1s. 10d. For complete lists of EdwarD STANFORD's PUBLICATIONS, see his GENERAL CATALOGUE of MAPs and ATLASES, LIST of BOOKS, EDUCATIONAL CATALOGUE, &c., gratis on application, or by post for one penny stamp. Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross, London. --- - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- - - -----—---s--------. -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DATE DUE * tº: §§ N § § § § s § § Nº. º § § § & §§ N § N SN § § N w s s § S § N NS º N § º ºxx. §§ ºN Š N § § N s § § § § º º N § N §§