ON women's labouk. 343 



printing and in the bookbinding ti-ades). This is apparently because of 

 the great and increasing demand for women's labour in the particular 

 trades carried on in this city. 



' There are only two departments of trade where men and women 

 work at the same employment. 



' In both of these, viz. brass- winding and the working of embi'oidei-y 

 machines, men seem to have been introduced mainly because of the 

 limitations of night-work and overtime embodied in the Factory Acts. 

 In both the custom of the trade has been to employ women, and so far 

 the displacement of women by men has been small (but is increasing) in 

 the first case, and in the latter is very slight.' 



In the bookbinding mid printing trades hours are generally below the 

 legal maximum, but in one or two cases hours or overtime have been 

 reduced, and there is a difference of opinion whether wages have been 

 prevented from rising ; in one firm it is thought that wages per head 

 were reduced, but not piece rates. In j)'>'inti'ng there is no competition 

 between men and women ; one firm has put in machinery because of the 

 shorter hours. In bookbinding there is little overtime, and married 

 women formerly employed give any necessary assistance ; one large 

 employer thought the Acts had lowered women's wages ; one overlooker 

 attributed the lowness of women's wages relative to men's to the fact 

 that ' men could be fallen back on in times of stress and emergencies, and 

 women (because of the Acts) could not.' 



Lace manufacturers and the majority of dressmakers work fewer 

 hours than the legal maximum, except in their busy season. Almost all 

 employers deprecate the use of overtime for both men and women, 

 except occasionally, and then only for very short periods ; yet they desire 

 more liberty (see Section I. above). 



In general in the lace, embroidery, hosiery, cigar-making, and 

 laundry trades all employers, without exception, regard factory legis- 

 lation as distinctly beneficial to women. Workpeople generally were 

 also convinced of its beneficial effect, and indignant at the idea of pro- 

 tection in regard to hours of work being withdrawn. Employers state 

 that the efficiency of women workers has not materially advanced. Most 

 consider that legislation has made no serious addition to the difliculties 

 of management. 



In the hosiery and bleach works no serious inconvenience has been 

 caused by legislation, except in certain cases when sufficient workers are 

 unobtainable ; nor is the general output lessened, except when workers 

 are scarce in interdependent departments. On the one hand it is said 

 that i-estriction tends to raise wages by causing scarcity of labour ; on 

 the other that more persons are introduced in times of pressure than are 

 permanently necessaiy, and wages tend to fall. 



Sheffield. 

 {Extract g from Report hy Mr. G. I. H. Lloyd.) 



Attention was paid specially, but not exclusively, to the distinctively 

 Sheffield trades connected with cutlery, electroplate, silver work, and file- 

 cutting. Owing to the nature of the trades machinery is but slowly 

 introduced, and its applications are of a simple character. Only 28 per 

 cent, of females over ten are returned as occupied in 1901, against 39 per 

 cent, in Birmingham. The occupations in which the largest number are 



