THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1907. A COTTON BOOM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8455, 4 June 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1907. A COTTON BOOM.

There is a great cotton boom just now in Lancashire. Until two years ago the trade had for some time been depressed but the tide turned then and has been flowing steadily ever since. Some of the mills are said to be earning as much as 100 per cent., and the average works out at about 35 per cent. Last year 48 new mills, with the enormous total of 4,570,000 new spindles, were erected, and this year as many more are being put up as rapidly as possible. It is said that £12,500,000 of fresh 1 capital has recently been invested in j the industry and that when the work in hand now is completed, 45,000 additional operatives will be required. One striking feature about this great boom is that an enormous portion of this new capital has been provided by the operatives themselves. Co-oper-ation is one of the great features of Lancashire life, and it is carried into the cotton business. In certain mills preference is always given to operatives who will put money into the business, and it is the ambition of many workers to do so. Family earnings are high just now. The wife may earn two-thirds of the wages of the husband, and the children from 7s 6d to £1 a week, so that it is not unusual to find a family with an income of £7 a week. The Lancashire operative might even be called an aristocrat among artisans. He can afford a fortnight's holiday at Blackpool, Scarborough, or the Isle of Man. Occasionally he goes as far as the Continent. He deserves it, for the work is monotonous, not very healthy, and the hours are long. But the children suffer most. The mothers are away from home working, and as soon as the child is big enough to work, it is put to it. Rising at five in the morning many children work for six hours in the humid atmosphere and then go to school, where they often find considerable difficulty in keeping awake.

The children go to school in the morn, ing on alternate weeks and work in the afternoon and then they are better off, so far as education is concerned. The afternoon children are said to learn almost nothing. Over 84,000 children lead this life. It is said that it is the parents who are mainly to blame for this state of things, the child being regarded too much in the light of a money-earning asset.