THE RAGE FOR CHEAPNESS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1806, 23 October 1888, Page 3

THE RAGE FOR CHEAPNESS.

The Olago Daily Times, has disoovered the pernicious sweating system, or rather a modification of if, prevails in Dunedin even to a worse extent than it does at Home. The matter was first brought under its notice by a letter from a wellknown citizen of Dunedin, in which the writer said : —" My Vife, whilst visiting recently in connection with one of the local charities, found a woman with a husband Bober and steady, but who had only done a few days' work during the past six months, and with two children, one a few weeks old and the othea unable to wulk ; and this woman had regulir work, which any of your lady leaders can value. Her work was fiiliohinff Crimom shirts; she had six buttonholos to inuke, seven buttons to sew on, and a few buttonhole stitches;, to make ou the two sleeves and the two lups

| of eiich shirt ; buttons were found, but I ihe wmkor Lad to find her own needles 1 and thread ; and what do you think is [ paid for this work? Eightponco per shirt—their value ! No, Sir, eightpence I per dozen shirts, and at this munificent wage she could, by working bar hardeßt while attending to these children, make 4d per day ; with only one child to look aftsr she could make 8d per day, which was nil she, her husband, and two children had'to depend upon. Is this work or slavery ? Other sweaters are magnanimous enough to pay as high as 9d per dozen, but the one in question seems to be a better business woman, and can drive a closer bargain, and is, moreover, the possessor of fine shops and a beautifully furnished dwelling-house. That this is no trumped-up case—my oard, enclosed—you will, I think, find sufficient evidence. Tha Otago Daily Times adds :—" Inquiries were yesterday made by o»e of our reporters regarding tha case above referred to, and tt was found that the statements contained in the letter were perfectly true. Later on our representative called on the Rev. ilutherford Waddell, who recentiy made some disclosures regarding the sweating system in Duoedin in a sermon on " The Sin of Cheapness," which he preached a few Sundays ago in St. Andrew's'Church. Mr Waddell said the statements contained in the letter, which was shown to him, were only too true. He mentioned one or two cases that he had investigated. One was that «f a widow lady living in Maclaggan street. SLo was employed by one of the factories at the work of finishing moleskin trousers, for which she received 2d per pair I On bsing in* terrogated as to how many pairs she could do in a day, she answered seven, but she s«id she had not been \ long working at this business, and other women more skilled in the work could make more. It was only by hard work—working about twelve hours a day—that she could earn from 2s to 28 6d 1 She would not have been able to live had it not been that the house she occupied was her own. She was a woman of a good educution, aDd notwithstanding the long hours she worked sho found time for a little reading. Sho generally used to read for half an hour er so before she went to bed—such authors as George Macdonnld and Edna Lyal, besides which she took great delight in reading Milton's poems. Mr Waddell said this was only one instance of many similar cases. The recognised price for the factories to'; pay for finishing woollen shirts, for instance, was Only Is 6d per c'oien, a little more being given for Crimean shirts, the. : factory providing the thread and "buttons. In the sweating revelations that were recently made in Glasgow it came out that the price paid for finishing moleskin trousersiwas 2|d each, .and yet here in Duoedin, for exactly the, same; class of work, only twopence is paid. We have since heard.of a case where a poor woman weatito one dt the managers; of a manufacturing^'establishment and ' asked for work. .; .T;he, could give her nothing-to'-.'do at that time, but advised her to call again. She afß&iwards offered to cheaper than the other hands employed, so that she might be enabled to "earn some money. The offer was accepted, and immediately afterwards the manager went to the other women employed, and told them that they wculd have to submit to a reduction, as he could"get'thsKwork done at a lower rate. In conversation.- with our reporter on the subject, ; Mr':Wfddell said he did not blame the manufacturers so much, for the sweating was in a great measure owing to the inordinate craving for oheapneas which preyailed nowadays. People v»ent "from one shop to another trying to see how little they could get a thing for, instead of being contented to give the owner a fair value for it,"