H.—2.

8

G. Have you ever come to a determination as to the number of hours ? —We should be satisfied if we could keep our looms going fifty-four hours in the week. 7. How many hours do you consider a fair day's work for a female paid by the day ? —Nine. It would be no hardship to make it nine hours, giving them Saturday afternoon. 8. Supposing they worked beyond that?—We would not ask them to do so ; but, when employed by the piece, they grumble because not allowed to work at times not permitted by the Act. 9. Supposing the law did not limit the hours for the employment of females, what would be the practice of the Company with regard to over hours—what would they pay for them ?—They are paid far higher in proportion than other labour. 10. Then, if the Company and the females be anxious to get as much work through as possible, would the Company pay a higher rate of wages for overtime ?—We have never asked them to work overtime. 11. No; but, supposing the labour perfectly free, what would be the general practice with respect to overtime ?—We pay our men overtime. The Engineer, for instance, gets double for overtime. 12. I suppose the women are as eager as the manufacturers to increase their gains ?—Tes. 13. Do you not think some restriction should be placed upon the time and mode of employing females ?—Oh, yes; I think that an Act is very necessary; but, taking into consideration the difference between town and country, and the difference in the nature of the work, I consider the present Act rather too strict, so far as our factory is concerned. 14. How many of your employes come under the Act ?—Between twenty and thirty females, and several males. Mr. Dryden, the manager, will be able to tell exactly, and give the ages. He will not take in any under eight or nine years of age. 15. Then, altogether, you consider the three Acts very useful and necessary, but require amendment ?—Tes, so far as we are concerned —if slightly amended in regard to the working hours, and holidays. The mill is not closed during holidays, except to the females. I may state, also, that there are two fast days in the year during which, out of deference to the feelings of the community, the mill used to be closed ; but, owing to the rigid enforcement of the Act with regard to the other holidays, we have opened the mill on fast days to those who choose to work on those days. With regard to the New Tear's holiday: we give a whole week. The Inspector of Machinery compels us to clean out our boilers once a year, and, as this takes nearly a week to do, it is done at the New Tear; and, if the mill is shut down for that purpose on a Saturday night, we do not start again till the following Monday week. The females thus get a holiday which they value, as it enables them to visit their friends ; whereas, if they merely obtain a single day, they do not value it. 16. Mr. Fulton.] Has the piecework been given in consequence of the provisions of the Act being an interference with the working of the factory, or was it the practice before ? —They have been paid by the piece since the first web was turned out of the factory. A number of first-class weavers from the old country bargained to be paid by the piece. There was never a piece of tweed made in the factory by day wages. 17. Was the petition from the girls really got up by them voluntarily ? —-Tes; they asked Mr. Dryden how to lay their complaint, and he told them by petition, and, if they were in earnest, to sign it. 18. Do not the girls who are weaving stand the whole time ? —Tes, they are pretty much standing the whole time, but need not; as a fact, they cannot do very well without standing, but they can go away perhaps for half an hour at a time. In working plain goods, a girl might be away almost half a day, her neighbour attending now and then to the loom. 19. How far do the girls live from the factory ? —The furthest off will have about sixty or seventy chains to travel. 20. The Chairman.] Do they club together to employ a medical man ?—No; they all live with their parents. There is a medical man in the district. 21. Mr. Fulton.] —What provision is made as to dinner time ? How long do they stop working ?— They get an hour. Some bring their meals with them, others go down to the village, and those who are living in the Company's houses get their meals regularly in them. 22. Mr. Strode.] The last Act, that of 1875, says, " A child, young person, or female shall not be employed continuously for more than four hours aud a half without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal." —We have never limited them to half an hour, but give ample time for them to take their meals. The manager sees that they get their meals. 23. The Chairman.] Do they take them in the factory ?—No ; they are not allowed to do so. If the day is fine, they go outside the factory, if wet, they can go into the engine room, or to a large room in which there is a fire. The fact is, that it is to our interest to be kind to our people iv every way. 24. Mr. Bradshaw.] Tou do not know exactly the number of women, young persons, and children employed in your factory ?—No, not having had so much to do lately in the supervision of the establishment ; but there are sixteen at the looms, and a number in the picking shop. The manager will be able to tell the number above or under the age of eighteen. 25. Did your Bill contemplate the working by night in shifts ?—No; I do not say so. Tou cannot put two different women on the same loom. 20. Did you not say that your machinery was about to work all night ?—lt has been, but on carding and spinning only ; women are not employed on that. I may say that during the day some of the girls are employed on the carding machines, but when they leave men are put on. 27. Do these women complain because they are not allowed to work a larger number of hours, or of insufficient earnings ?—They look upon it that if they are only allowed to work a certain number of hours that there is so much deducted from their wages. 28. Then they complain of the amount that they cannot earn ?—Tes. 29. Do you know anything about the Factory Acts at Home ? Do you know what constitutes a factory at Home ? —I am not quite sure, in terms of the law ; but there is no doubt that ours is a woollen factory.