DEFECTS IN FURNITURE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 271, 13 May 1912, Page 7

DEFECTS IN FURNITURE

- HOW THEY ARE COVERED UP. THE FRENCH POLISHER'S ART. Sydney, May 1. j Furniture polish covers a multitude of defects in the work of furniture-makers. I A witness named Thomas Lake, in giving evidence before the Furniture Trade I Wages Board the other day, in support I of the union c-laim for a minimum wage | of £3 10s for French polishers and cab-inet-makers, said that a French polisher required to be more skilful now than he did five or six years ago, because the work turned out by cabinet-makers was not so good as it used to be, and the polisher had to hide the defects. Under the previous award French polishers were paid less than cabinetmakers, but now, for the reason stated, they wanted to be placed on an equal footing. Mr Reid, the employers' counsel, remarked: "You have got to be more skilled because the cabinet work turned out to-day is not so good as it usicd to be?" "That's it," said .witness. "We have I to use our brains more to fix up furni- | ture so that it will be marketable." He j proceeded to say that machinery was j being used more and more in making j furniture, and it came to the polishers in a rougher state than hitherto. There was no labor saving machinery as far as French polishing was concerned, however, and he did not think there ever would be. The union demand of £3 10s for a 44-hour week, with no Saturday work, was not excessive, as the four hours less would make practically no difference in the amount of work turned j out. Ho' strongly believed in the demarcation of cabinetmaking and French - polishing; a man in one branch should , not be expected to do the other kind of < work. Mr Read: The principle of your union is to fight grading tooth and nail, every man to receive th 1 ? same pay? —That is as it should be. ', You consider that once a. man joins a I union there should be one minimum for j the lot?-Yes. j The witness did not consider French polishing a healthy occupation. The j ! fumes of the various chemicals ad mix- | tures used were sometimes overpower- | ing. Oxalic acid, for instance, when it 8 was drying, induced a "dreamy sensa<ik>n, very hard to fight against." Mr. Read; Boys can do this work, can't they, as well as men? —No: they can't. But there used to be a big lot of boys at it?— Yes; and they want to put the boys back, and put the men out. How does local work compete with that of other countries?—l reckon that Australian work is far superior to that turned out in England. Do you know that women do polishing in Scotland?— Yes; more shame to them. And that boys do it in Melbome?—T don't want to hear anything about that plane. According to the evidence of Claude Francis, to make a piano requires great skill and experience, and in proof of , his contention he mentioned that, although he had been a cabinetmaker for 12 years, and had specialised on pianos at Beale and Go's foT seven years, he was always finding something fresh to learn. He believed in a 44-hour week; and while he recognised that "by increasing the wages in a particular trade you increase the cost of articles in that trade," he did not think that that was a good reason why the union claim ' should not be granted. Touching on the apprenticeship question, and the scarcity of indentured boys J. C. Hiddell, a cabinetmaker, said that boys were reluctant to indenture thiemselves because thev could get paid so i well for their unskilled labor without 8 being bound. In brickyards, for instance they could obtain 30s a wteck.