UNSKILLED LABOUR AND THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 307, 13 October 1888, Page 3

UNSKILLED LABOUR AND THE SWEATING SYSTEM.

We have once or twice recently remarked". < "i upon the fallacy of there being any fixed 1 " market value " for unskilled labour. We; argued that the price for* unskilled labour^ was ruled, not by the value of the work* performed, but by competition and by the^. necessities of those competing. The view' we book is strikingly corroborated by the* evidence given at the investigation into the sweating system now being made in Eng-/ land by a Committee of the House of Lords..! This Committee have, in the meantime, after - examining into this system in the East' End of London, and hearing a mass of evi- ' dence, suspended their operations, andbrought up a merely formal report, in which they say : i The Committee have examined witnesses i in the boot and shoe, tailoring, cabinet and*, upholstering, and other trades, and agree that the evidence, although unfinished, ' maybe reported, and the inquiry adjourned.. The Committee desire to make the follow- * ing remarks :—: — < 1. In the opinion of your Committee, the , evidence already taken sufficiently indicates , the existence oi grave evils, in connection with what is known as the sweating 1 system, in the localities to which their investigations havo been confined. They - have reason to believe that the same or ' similar evils prevail in other parts of the metropolis as well as in other towns and cities, and affect various industries not yet ' examined. Their views in this respect are strengthened by many resolutions and applications received from societies and individuals praying for an extension of the inquiry. It also appears that many persons , engaged in the trades under consideration carry on busine&s in various districts in London and in the country also, 2. For these reasons an exhaustive inquiry is impossible under a reference limiting che area of investigation to the East End of London ; and your Committee recommend such an extension of their reference as will enable them to prosecute their inquiries throughout the metropolis, and in such cities and towns or rural districts in the United Kingdom as they may select. Those interested in this investigation are sadly disappointed at an interim report not being brought up, as in consequence of this enlarged area of investigation, it is not probable that the final report will be produced before the latter end of next year. Some very important information has accrued, however, from the evidence already taken ; so valuable is it, indeed, that we in New Zealand may well take warning by it, as there are not wanting significant signs that already in this young country a similar system to that known as sweating is beginning to take root amongbt us. Amongst other things the Committee endeavoured to get the correct definition of "sweating system " and "sweater," but, as a matter of course, the answers of the different witnesses varied considerably. Mr Arno'd White does not consider it possible to give a scientific definition to these two terms, but &ay& itinvolves three distincb idea?. The broadest definition is "one who grinds tbe face of the poor," another is "a man who contributes neither capital, skill, nor speculation, and yet makes a profit," . and his thiid definition is "a middleman." Miss Fottei, however, who is reported as ha\ ing considerable personal and practical experience in the East End of London, on being questioned by the Chairman, said : "I t-hould bay that an inquiry into the sweating system was practically an inquiry, into all labour employed in manufactories which had escaped the regulation of the Factory Act and Trades Unions." Mr Chatles Booth, who has been em-->, ployed making similar investigations for a * consideiabie period under the auspices 6fthe London Statistical Society, gave as a definition in his evidence that what "sweating" really meant was "the advantage that may be taken of unskilled and unorganised labour under the contracts systym. ' The Secretary of the Alliance Cabinet-makers' Association defined a sweating &hop in his trade as "a^ shop where men to earn anything like a decent wage have to sweat otheis to obtain it." The system really is one which encourages excessive sub-division of labour. All the evidence points to the fact that the evil efiectfc of this system are mainly confined to the lower branches of trade where low class labour is employed, and where there is no organisation. It is in this class ot work that hundreds of men and women were found employed at " starvation " wages, with ' ' no hope in the future and no pleasures in the past. "' It is precisely here where we would raisea woid of warning to employers in this country, and we ■« ould specially call the attention of both employers and workmen to the following evidence given during the investigation : Both masters and men testified that the increasing use ot machinery and the minute divisions into which work of all kinds is now divided rendered untrained and unskilled bo.>s able to perform the work formerly done by trained and skilled men. And th tt nowadays few working men or women knew a trade in all its branches, and both masters and men deplored the disappearance of the oldtashioned apprentice. When trade is bad and work is slaok these men and women join the ranks of the unemployed, for they only know some particular subdivision of their trade that is no longer open to them, and they are stranded. It is to be feared that the rules of some trades unions contribute to this result by preventing boys who have been apprenticed to one branch from learning' the whole trade. A& regnx ds the great difficulty in these' daysof obtaining men who thoroughly know their business, Mr Hollington, a very large employer in the export trade, said : — " There is no doubt that there is an enormous glut of the low-priced labour ; that is to say, uneducated and unskilled labour is to be got at in any quantity, and the work is competed for to such an extent that the price is kept at a ridiculously low level, whereas the moment you get to educated labour it is impossible to procure it. If you, want a man to make a pair of trousers, and who knows his business, you cannot get one for love or monej? • but if you want a sorb of human machine for getting it together by hook or by crook, and making it available to sell at a low pi ice, then there is any quantity to be got." It was shown in the evidence how disease was generated and spread broadcasb through work being taken home by the workers. One gentleman intimately acquainted with the East End said, ''I have seen the children lying asleep at night covered with the garments," and he also stated he had seen children with infectious diseases also covered with them, and he further remarked that he had seen the work taken back to the large houses^ and invariably noticed the taker in of the work "take his shears and kill the' worst sort of vermin creeping on the garments.":* The Committee remark upon a point that stood greatly in the way of -'prosecuting the inquiry with the thoroughness it domanded, that was, the extreme diffii I dence felt by the working classes, in coming \ forward to support their view of the case'. — ' ' Auckland Star. ' „ v^