DREADFUL WORK.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3020, 21 November 1891, Page 5 (Supplement)

DREADFUL WORK.

A spkcial couiinis-r.i.er (jt the Trades Unionist, travelling in Lancashire, give--, a horrifying ueconnt of the eonoitioiirunder which some chemical trades are carried on. Describing tho work of bleaching powder-makers, he s.ay-i:—

•' The acid gas given off from the furnace* is very trying, and a flinn-'l protection over tho mouth is used to war i this off ; bnt, in spite of it, teeth aud gumß fall a -\ictim to the acid. Very frequently bits gets nibtded by the action of tn« acid out of men's hands and arms. Some of the hands at St, Holen's have a c..novated look in consequence. Ijimo is the principal ingredient out of which tho powder is made. Before it goea to the cnlorine chambers, whore it is to übsorb the i/as, it is carefully treated and roduced to a fine powder. It is sifted and bealon down and slacked, and tho men who have to do this work [ have a job which no ono would envy. Fancy working all day or all | night as tho oa-e may be, in a fine mist of lime particles flying about like a cloud of mosquitoes, with a fair sharper bite too. To protect themselves the men resort to a muzzle or to a piece of rag or flanuel hold tightly between the teeth. The exposed parts of the skin are carcfully greased, and a sort of paper mask is frequently improvised in addition to a cap. In spite of everything, however, the limo gets insomo where and inflicts it bite. All the timo tho work is carried on the breathing is a terrible effort. To breathe through the nose would have the direst consequences, A single inhalation, and the lime particles would lodge there. So the air has to be inhaled through the muzzle and given out chrough the nose. Naturally, nose-bleeding is a frequent complaint in the works. Twent-ly minutes at a spell is as much as a man can stand ; aftor that ho goes out to recover himself, and lay in a little for his inside and some grease for outside lining. These lime men, of course, are not able to wash, they slum water as other people shun fire. The only wash they get, sometimes for months together, is in grease. To insist upon these poor chaps repeating their attack on the lime over a period as long as eight hours seems cruel. It is far, far too long. As to the medical evidence, it does not require much skill to see how work like this must tell on the respiratory organs. I hope, however, to obtain evidence oil these points directly which will be incon> testable. But (continues the Commissioner) if the lime-house men were strong and hale, and lived to a hundred, no one should have the power of imposing upon them so long a period of daily misery as they endure ; aud another point, there should be—ay, aud there must be—a very rigid and searching public inquiry into all these processes, to see what alleviations can be introduced by mechanical appliances No one seems to bother his head over introducing such an elementary contrivance a3 a fan to create a draught for carrying off the dust. People who won't bother their heads or disturb their pockets over such matters will have to be made to. What these meu earn doesn't affect the question the least bit. As a mat'.er of fact the lime men reckon to average about 33s a week. Well, apart altogether from the hardships they suffer, that is none too much. In a sense they are monopoly

men. They could not be replaced any more than any other of the men in the various processes. Knack, muscle, and enduranco should fetch their prico as well as tho finer sorts of skill. But will anyone pretend that these wages include compensation money for the inconveni~ ence, misery, and frequent breakdowns that comes of it ? If they were paid double the amount, interference would still be necessary on the grounds of simple humanity. The duties of the limebouse man are, however, child's play compared with what the packer has to endure. When the lime man has finished his part of the job, and the lime is sprinkled to a depth of some two inches over the floor of the chlorine chambcr, and raked lightly over so that the gas shall have access to as large a surface area as possible, the doors are shut, the cracks stopped up with clay, and an opening is made to admit the chlorine. It streams in, and through the glass which is let into the door you can see the invasion of green gas, A loug period has to elapse before the lime has its fill, and becomes bleaching powder of the requisite strength; but at length, after the necessary tests, and perhaps a re-arraugement of the surface and another dose of chloride, things are ready for packing. The duties of the powder packer consist of filling casks with the bleaching powder. To do this he has to enter the chamber, which for several days past has been charged with the chlorine gas. Though the worst of the gas has been allowed to pass ont of the chamber before the packer enters it, the atmosphere is still charged with the deadly fumes. The heat is something tremendous, especially as the poor wretch who has to endure it is swathed about the head in a way that would protect him from Arctic cold. Before he approaches his work, the packer dons a round paper cap, and his eyes are covered with a pair of enormous gogples. which resemble the port-holes through which the diver makes his observations. Then comes the muzzle. This formidable respirator is compossd of twentysix folds of flannel, wide enough to cover tho space from the upper lip to the neck. This is lashed tightly under the chin and round the neck with cords. No space oil any account must be left through which the horrible chlorine may find its way to the mouth. The ruts in the flesh which arc cut by the cords not infrequently afford an inlet for the gas ; if the muzzle is replaced after an interval for breath over the ruts instead of exactly as it was before with the cords fitting into the grooves in the flesh, the man will be " gassed." When the muzz'e is on, the effort of breathing, says the commissioner, appears to bo most painful even in the open air, Tho client heares liko that of a man struggling for breath in the violent stages of lung disease. The appoaranoe »f tho face of the muzzled man gives you an impreision, which you cannot shake off, that he is being suffocatod ; the eyes seem distended as thev stare through the goggles ; tho veins of tho forehead are wwoilen, and the flesh is-puffed up in a scarlet ridgo round the top of tho mnzzlo. Frequently tho men aro on duty twelve hours ; in some places they aro allowed to escape after nine hours of it. However difficult the stuff may be to WDrk, there is nover any allnwin"" work.