370 REPORT—1883. 
Nors.—Wages in the Weaving Branch of the Cotton Trade. The pre- 
sident of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce (Mr. G. Lord), mm 
response to the desire expressed by the delegates of the weaving branch 
at their meeting at Ashton-under-Lyne, has forwarded us the following as 
the data on which he based his statement to the chamber on Thursday 
last. The figures, as he explained, show the wages earned per week 
of 60 hours up to 1874, and of 564 hours since :— 
Mill A 1850 1860 1870 1877 1883 
Weavers . 93. 64d. 15s. 1d. 13s.10d. 18s. 6d. 16s. Od. 
Winders . 83. 3d. 10s. 9d. lls. Od. 17s. 0d, 12s. 0d. 
Increase : Weavers alone in 1883 on 1850, 674 per cent.; winders, 454 per cent. ; 
weavers and winders together, 57} per cent. 
This is a large mill, and the weavers’ earnings per week are arrived 
at by taking the total earnings of the shed, and dividing that sum by the 
number of weavers employed. The reduction in earnings of weavers in 
1870 was due to the fact that the material used at that time was not so 
good as that in use immediately before and since. 
Mill B 1850 1860 1870 1877 1883 
Weavers . 8s. 2d. 14s. 9d. 15s. 6d. 16s. Od. 15s. Od. 
Winders , 8s. 6d. 9s. Od. 11s. 6d. 14s. 0d. 12s. 6d. 
Increase in 1883 on 1850: Weavers, 833 per cent. ; winders, 47 per cent.; weavers 
and winders together, 65 per cent. 
Mill C.—In 1850 a weaver received 10s, 4d. per week for attending to 
one pair of looms; now she receives 23s. for two pairs of looms, out of 
which she pays a tenter 5s. 3d., leaving her 17s. 9d. Taking weavers 
and winders together the increase shown at this mill is 564 per cent. 
Mill D.—In 1850 a weaver received 8s. for attending to one pair of 
looms ; now she receives 24s. for attending to two pairs, and pays 6s. to a 
tenter, leaving her 18s. Taking weavers and winders together the in- 
crease shown at this mill is 84.3 per cent. 
Mill E.—In 1850 a weaver earned 9s. 2id.; in 1883, 15s. O4d. 
Increase, 634 per cent. 
Mr. Lord states that he has a number of other returns corroborative 
of those above given, but he thinks it unnecessary to multiply proofs of 
facts so universally known to all in the trade. 
On the Mersey Tunnel. 
By CuarLes Doucuas Fox, M.Jnst.C.F. 
[A communication ordered by the General Committee to be printed im eatenso among 
the Reports. | 
[PLATE XII.] 
Amongst the proposals which have from time to time occupied the atten- 
tion of engineers and capitalists, the bridging and tunnelling of rivers 
and estuaries, in order to establish direct communication between im- 
portant towns or districts, have of late years occupied a prominent place, 
and, if practical results have only in one or two instances been attained, 
this cannot be attributed to any want of belief in the value of such con- 
nections, but rather to the inherent difficulties and costliness of the 
necessary works. The towns of Liverpool and Birkenhead, having 
together a population of some 750,000 persons, bound by the closest ties. 
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