APPEXDIX. 



365 



Victoria, a large number of unemployed have been attracted to this Colony. With a com 

 bination of sucli circumstances, persons in search of employment liave been compelled t<» 

 accept smaller wages to enable tliem to bridge the season of depression. New Soutli WalcH 

 has been made a place of refuge during the interval of financial distress by reason of the 

 more advantageous position the Colony lias occupied, so that the item of work and wages 

 has suffered more on account of the support which lias been given outside of its own 

 legitimate labour market than had the task of remodelling pay slieets been between local 

 employers and employes only. This has been especially the case in Sydney, while the 

 same remark may be e(|ually applied to the principal provincial centres. Such a state 

 of things has necessarily disorganised the local labour market, and the various unions and 

 trade organisations, which had their growth iu more prosperous times, have l)ecome 

 powerless in dictating rates of wages and other matters in tlie labour market, as in nearly 

 every department of trade men and women are willing to work for wliat they can get. 

 Low wages, or its attendant privations, however, must not be taken as synonymous with 

 the labour market of Ncm' South Wales, but rather as an exception, almost witiiout 

 precedent, so far as the thrifty and industrious are concerned, and there is every reason 

 to believe that the worst has been passed, as during the last year a large number of firms 

 and institutions have raised the salaries of employes who had ))een reduced during the 

 interval of financial depression, so that tlie return to a liberal standard of renuincration 

 may confidently be looked for, and with the rapid recovery wiiich lias been experienced 

 by this Colony, there seems every prospect of labourers becoming wortliy of their hire in 

 all the ordinary branches of trade. 



^Vages in all private establishments are paid weekly, and tlie usual rate is forty-eight 

 hours, or eight hours per day. In some cases piecework is taken instead of daily wages 

 —an alternative which has led to a good deal of "sweating" in the manufacture of ready- 

 made clothing. The general rule, however, is to calculate earnings on a weekly basis, 

 which, in a general way, may be enumerated as follows : — 



KATES OF WAGES PAID FOR ENfijVGEMENTS THROUGH THE VAHKH'S LABOUR OFFICE.S. 



Mah Labour. 



*Rate per annum. Other 

 enumerated under the heading 

 include hoard and lodgin>f. 



wages are at per week. The rates of wajres paid on farms arn similar to thow 



ii<- '• Stations." With the exception of " Businesses," the whole of the above 



