IN THE DENS OF THE SWEATER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1771, 2 August 1888, Page 4

IN THE DENS OF THE SWEATER.

I have looked up some sweating dens— Whitechapel and elsewhere. The first I chanced to enter was one of a row oocu|.ying i.early a whole slree'. The back yards of the buildings have bei-n utilised as sites for workshops, the said workshops in every casa being but a few feet to the roir i f ihe house, attached to each other, and thi-ir backs also joining another row of similar erections used by the possessors of the horses of the next street. The first sweater I found not a bad fellow, as sweaters go, and really appeared to wish himself well out of the business. This gentleman’s den is considered quite Arcadian in comparison wiilr the majority of such choice asylums. There were not more than sixteen persons confined therein, the space—about 12ft in length and Bft in width—being considered all that the most fastidious in the way of sanitary conditions could desire. To le matter-of-fact I must describe the place as a mere shed, such «s is usually found at tl e b ck of a house in a pc >r neighborhood, nnd which is usually termed a wash-house. Closely packed as cattle in a pen are Ihegirs, men and men. The floor is deeply covered with cloth cuttings, the work thrown about th-place going through its vatious stages, young lads at perhaps three or five shillings per week executing (he least important portion-*. Men presses—if greeners--may commenc» at one shilling per day,'ami in time hope to a'tain to the overpowering stipend of ihree shillings per diem. Thit is to say, if other greeners are not handy to again start at the regulation one shilling for as many boors as his sweal.ersbip pleases to term u day. By some sweaters a p esser is expected to go over the seams of 150 coats before he is entitled to a day’s pay. A suit was offered for my inspection, the total cost of making which was not to exceed 2j 6J. The materials, I was informed, would cost no more than 10r or 12s at the utmost ; this same suit was a “ bespoke order,” and the sum to be charged wonld be £llss, I next sought out a tailor’s sweater of a lower typo, one whose special line was whit is usually terrn-d “slop work”—that is, cheaply made goods for exportation to the colonies, The proprietor of this establishment was a pleasant-spoken Jew ; he put the whole question of sweating system into a nutshell. “ I must have work,” he said ; “it is offered me at a shilling, tenpence, or lets per coat. If 1 refuse lam told some one is quite willin.to do any quantity at the same figure, 1 know: this to be true ; I must, therefore, take it and do the best I can with it.” Atked what he considered the chief entse of the pre : ent state of the tailoring trade, he rtp ! ied : “The commission-agent, he is responsible for all the evil.” This enviable personage, ever competing wi'-h those of his own class, is ready, ra her than lose an order, to take it at almost any price, always being pre'ty sure to induce some poor master-man wanting work to undertake the same at a price affording the agent something in the way of profi’. An order may piss through the hands of several agents, each making a good profit, before it reaches the actual workers. I was shown a coat that, so far as 1 could judge, was fairly well made, and the price to be paid 1 was told would be tenpence. The very poor sweater is compelled to hire a garret, sometimes a room not eight feet square, with sloping roof beams overhead and but one small window. Into this he will crowd pressing stove, tables, machines, if he have any, and all the hands he can venture to employ—as many as nineteen may be packed sardine-like into this small space each to work sixteen or eighteen hours to constitute a day’s toil! I entered a house of sweated matchbox makers, and found the uoforlunute people toiling away for dear life, not being able to pause an instant during conversation, into which they, however, reidily entered. Twopenct-farlhing per gross is the sum paid by the ma'chbox-making sweater when the work is turned out quite to his satisfaction. When not considered up to the usual standard of excellence it is sent back.

The making of fish bags is another means by which tho despairing poor seek to obtain a meal. An old flour sack can bo bought for twopence. This wi 1 cui up into four fish bags, which, when made up, may, if the vendor is lucky enongh to sell, fetch a pemy eac'. Hometini's cotton enough for the making of the four fish bags can be drawn from tho flour sack, but at other times the cotton is a “ bit obstinate like,’' and wont come out; (hen it means buy ng fresh cot'on, “ which is a deal loss,” to put it in the words of tlie poor woe-s'ricktn crentur - whom I found at Eow following this not very profitable calling, —PaIIMaMG zjlte.