ON \yomen's labour. 325 



forty-eight to thirty evenings ' was a serious inconvenience, as the larger 

 number was needed for the 'Laying on' the printing and folding macliines, 

 which is girls' work. ' At first the employers kept the young men over 

 18 years to do the work, but this was expensive, and as a last resort 

 the engineers were pressed to invent a way of doing by automatic 

 machinery what the girls had been doing before. This they have 

 succeeded in doing, and girls have been discharged ' [Derby). The em- 

 ployers, however, instead of discharging the girls from their workshop, 

 employed them in new branches, so that none were dismissed, though 

 fewer new ones may have been taken on. In London, one printing-house 

 manager said : ' He would employ women for feeding his printing machines 

 were it not for the limitations on their hours, which render it impossible 

 to keep them when a press of work comes in,' but many others held an 

 opinion to the contrary [P^-inting). In an article in the ' Economic 

 Journal,' 1899, on Women Compositors and the Factory Acts, we find 

 (p. 263) that among some very hesitating opinions three (out of thirty-five) 

 employers said that they would employ more women compositors if more 

 overtime were allowed ; and one doubtful case is given of women being 

 replaced by a folding-machine. 



In last year's Report - some instances are given where women may 

 have lost employment in Yorkshire and Birmingham, and cases in 

 Liverpool exactly similar to those in Birmingham are reported ; but the 

 net loss recoi'ded is infinitesimal. 



In Shefiield the clause of the new special rules coming into force 

 September 1, 1903, which enacts that : 'If the factory or workshop is 

 .situated in a dwelling-house, the work of file-cutting shall not be cari'ied 

 on in any room which is used as a sleeping-place or for cooking or eating 

 meals,' is expected to prevent a number of women continuing to earn their 

 livelihood at home, but it is too early to report on this. 



We have two instances in our report from Nottingham : ' In one 

 department of the lace trade, that of brass-bobbin winding, women are 

 being steadily replaced by youths and men, as these latter can be employed 

 in hours outside those permitted to women. This is necessitated by the 

 night working of the lace machines, for when the machine stops and the 

 bobbins come off empty, they must be re-wound at once. Old workers 

 state that men were not employed as brass winders before the advent of 

 factory legislation. Before this, brass-winding had been regarded as 

 essentially women's work, and many employers still prefer women, alleging 

 that they are more efficient workers (and in emergencies can evade the 

 Inspector). Unsteady and drinking habits are very prevalent among 

 brass-winders, both male and female, and this tends to encourage the 

 employment of men, as they can more readily make up lost time.' 

 It is necessary to give the second case in full. ' One of the largest 

 employers in the embroidery trade said that twenty years ago women 

 worked all their machines, but as they got busier they had been- obliged 

 to put a few men (from 5 to ] per cent.) in also, as the hours of women 

 were too limited. He thought it was also a question of stamina. In busy 

 times they now worked some of the machines twenty hours per day and 

 night, but the men dovetailed in with the women. They paid women the 

 .same wages as the men, and had taken on men because of the limitation 



D^ 



' The cause may have been either the prohibitionof overtime for girls under 18, 

 or the reduction for women over 18 ; our information is not complete. 

 ^ Belfast, pp. 293, 299. 



