"STITCH ! STITCH ! STITCH !"

Temuka Leader, Issue 1718, 31 March 1888, Page 3

"STITCH ! STITCH ! STITCH !"

Considerable comment has been made in the London journals on tbe question of tbe " sweating system which prevails" between the clothing manufacturers of that city and tbe persons who rmke up the garments. The following is stated on good authority to have been some of ■ the prices paid by tbe middlemen for work, and shows how cheaply the work . ia done:—The women engaged in muking ! vesta " cannot earn 5s a week even by <c working from 7 a.m., to ]2pim. or 1 a.m., and sometimes sit up till 4 in the morning to finish - work ;" women " make ~ children's knickerbockers at l|d a pair, and can earn 5s 6d per week ;" or make children's suits for 4|d, and 2d for 'finishing,' and at the r*to of remuneration can farn 4s 3d per week." An instance is given of " a woman of 55 and one of 24, who make children's suit of two garments. ; The prices for making the whole, except ■■ a little braiding, done after the work is sent back, range from 3d to lid, with cotton to find. One week they Parted at six in the rooming and worked until midnight each day, and made a total of 8s 6d for the week, or 4s 3d each. But : their average weekly eermngs tbey Mtimate at 3s or 3s 6d, enough to pay tbe rent ofaheir one little rocm, and find fi them in tea and bread."