THE HIDDEN SHAME.

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 8, 20 April 1911, Page 5

THE HIDDEN SHAME.

Sweating in Sydney. In the "Lone Hand" for March the first article is published of a series by Messrs J. Barr and C. A. Jeffries on the SAveated home workers of Sydney. It makes pitiful reading. A selection: . . . . A narroAv dark room; a despairing room Avhere tears drop through long nights and sunless days; a worn woman who rises from the seAvingmachine which she drives with starvation as the speeder-up; tAvo or three young children who had already become old friends Avith Hunger —little folk Avho had, more than once, seen a Aveek pass Avithout the sight of meat, or anything but a little bread and treacle. Yet they Avere clean and quiet of manners, and uncomplaining against the hard hand of a social system Avhich is beyond the comprehension of their years. The mother ceases her Avork to tell of the conditions of her life; but she speaks Avearily, as if hopeless of any resulting benefit. She had come from the country to earn a living for herself and three children; full of confidence and strength she joined the ranks of the Avretched "home Avorkers" who are sweated by Chinaman, Syrian and Avhite man alike in this Sydney. At the time of the intervieAv she was making household aprons under the patronage of a "yellow" factory; and, although the Chinaman is looked upon by these unfortunate home working women as a more considerate employer than the white Australian, the conditions in this case were more than deplorable. For making six dozen bibbed aprons she Avas reAvarded with eleven shillings, less Is 9d for cotton and 8d for tram fares to and from the factory Avith the unsewn material and the finished article. That works out at a fraction OA T er one penny each, and the fraction is eaten up by the firing to heat the irons. "How long Avould it take to finish six dozen of those aprons r~ "I couldn't tell you that exactly," was her answer; "but this Avill probably cover what you want to know. Last week I worked three days of seventeen hours and three days of fifteen hours each; and 1 earned lis 9d, minus the price of the cotton (Is 9d) and tram-journeys (Sd)." "That's at the rate of 1 l-6d per hour!" "Is it"? I don't know. It'- heartbreaking enough without thinking «f it that way."

She Aviped the back of her hand across her eyes. "When I was at the best of my strength I never earned more than 16s in one week, although I am a good seAAer; now, with my health breaking doAvn from the exertion and want of nourishing food, I earn much less. I work from daylight to dark, and far into the night when the sounds in the streets and the neighbouring houses have long ceased. Sometimes the neighbours speak of it: 'You Avere working late last night/ one Avill say; 'I woke up somewhere about half-past one this morning and heard your machine going/ But what am I to do ? My machine is on time-payment, and I am behind with the instalments. . . We need every penny for food and shelter. . . The youngest child has been ill " As Aye step into the sAveet sunlight the. whir of the machine in the dark room behind us breaks out like a low-toned Avail. "Sometimes/ says our guide, "I go home from places like this and cry myself to sleep. When I think of the misery that is buried in these houses or rooms where I am taking you—places where women make beautiful frilled and tucked pilloAv-slips for l_d each, and by Avorking fourteen or fifteen hours a day can make a dozen before dropping down to rest; places where artificial iloAver Avorkers construct for 3i-d sprays that are sold in the shops for 2s lid or more, and contriA T e roses for 3d a gross, 'rose leaves for 3d a gross, and violets for 3d a gross j places where you will see women making trousers for lis a dozen, and Avhere two good workers, by keeping at it for about sixteen hours a day, can finish off three dozen a week and earn between them £1 13s, less 3s for cotton, one . shilling for tram fares and something for gas or other heating poAver for the pressing iron,g; a place where a girt is toiling twelA'e and fourteen hours a day to make tAvo of those beautiful Avhite underskirts that mark the dainty lady on the Block —tuck them and embroider them, frills and ribbon and insertion and beading —all to be done for 8d a skirt. Two a day is not bad business for the maker, and 27s 6d or 30s is not an unusual charge to the Avearer. Then, the white blouse-makers —24 tucks in front, embroidery and insertion, tucks and insertion in the sleeves and down the back, five buttons and button-holes, ribboned and pressed—earning from 4d to 8d for each blouse. In this house Aye are passing noAv was, recently, an Englishman dying of consumption. His wife took her place in the line of 'home workers/ and fought death and starvation in the one room, seeing her child hungry and her emaciated husband propped up Avith pilloavs awaiting his end with a needle in. his hand, sewing buttons on to fashionable blouses." Madam, can you conceive that your frills ever cost that much? Miss, did you observe any tear-marks on your favourite blouse? No? Then, madam, Aye can tell you that that price Avas paid, before your "frills Avere finished. Miss, permit mc to say that a yesterday a,go we saAV hearts Avelling over that silk blouse you wore in the stalls at the theatre last night. On that same yesterday Aye sat beside an invalided woman who bad wciked for the Chinese factories in Sydney for. fourteen years; making hundreds, sands of children's ciresses, p.n&lores, blouses, nightgoAviis, petticoats, anything that required skilled needlework. Asked if she could make £1 a week at it, she replied: "A pound a week! Lord, I'd have gone for a holiday if I could have made that much." On the table of that sickrom lay beautifully Avorked garments. The slaves of the needle explained their intricacies.. Three Avere selected at random: No. I.—White underskirt; 48 pieces of lace insertion, all joined; 48 vandyke tucks put in; two frills, and beading to be attached; three tucks above the frill; shop price £2 12s 6d to £2 15s each. Price to SAveated needleworker, 15s a dozen. No, 2.—Plain Avhite underskirt of good material; six of them may be made in eighteen hours; shop price, 17s to £1 Is. Price to SAveated needleworker, 7s a. dozen. No. 3. —White underskirt, 108 tucks; 1& strips of insertion; frill and lace; an underneath frill of muslin and lace and two tucks; shaped band; half a dozen may be made in four days "with luck" (as the tired-eyed girl Avhe was making one said); shop price, £2 2s to £3 3s, according to value of lace. Price to SAveated needlewoman 4s 6d per halfdozen. In regard to the last-mentioned article, only the most expert workers make, sayi a dozen a week—an overgenerous estimate —and thereby ©am 9s; also, the worker must buy her OAvn cotton; and S9 shameless and grasping are the factories that most of them charge these struggling people retail prices for the reels of thread which the factory OAvners import at wholesale prices.