344 REPORT— 1903. 



engaged are ' buffing ' (i.e. polishing against a revolving wheel), burnishing 

 and polishing silver and electroplate, and whetting, wiping, and wrapping 

 cutlery ; while a fair number are employed in tile-cutting and cutlery 

 work. 



In the larger factories, where inspection is easy, a high standard of 

 sanitation is being obtained, hours ai-e nearly alwajs well below the legal 

 maximum ; but under pressure of work the prohibition of overtime may 

 sometimes be a serious inconvenience to manufacturers, and cases where 

 work is taken home to be completed after factory hours are not unknown. 

 The Act tends to encourage manufacturers to equalise work through the 

 seasons. 



In the numerous small tenement factories, out-workers, shops, &c., the 

 conditions are not so good, and a rigid insistence on compliance with the 

 provisions of the Acts is much more needed. The contrast between 

 rushes of M'ork and slack time is much more marked, especially in 

 'butting ' ; here and with cutlery the women do the lighter work at very 

 low wages, often working in ' teams ' of six or ten, the team-master alone 

 being responsible to the employer. So far as the enforcement of the Acts 

 has tended to improve the conditions of work of this sort, and to bring 

 these small shops up to the standard of the large firms, it may perhaps 

 tend to the discouragement of out-work altogetlier. There is, however, 

 not much evidence for this apart from tlie acknowledged endeavour of 

 many of the larger houses to get as much of their work done on their 

 premises as possible. 



In file-cutting , machinery has for the last fifteen years been steadily 

 displacing hand-work. Many hand-cutters have now taken to the 

 machines, and a few women also have found an employment on the lighter 

 machines. The number of hand workers has greatly diminished, and few 

 young people are taking to the trade. In 1900 Dr. Robertson found 546 

 workshops in which 1,446 males and 594 females were employed ; 

 of the latter only 155 were over twenty-five years old ; work generally 

 ceases on marriage. In addition there were between 200 and 300 home- 

 workers, nearly all women, and mostly working alone and depending on 

 their work for their own and in some cases their families' support. The 

 regulations now coming into force ' will probably lead to a large number 

 of shops being closed and cause a good deal of hardship. Some of the 

 single women now renting a " stock " in a workshop will perhaps work at 

 home in order to escape the regulations. Others may seek to obtain 

 exemption from the rules by using block tin or other substitute for the 

 lead bed.' That the trade will be rapidly killed there is no reason to fear. 

 Some of the work is too small and tiresome for a machine to perform, 

 and much of the work is required in quantities too small to make it worth 

 while to adapt a machine for the purpose ; but neither will the regulations 

 increase the proportion of in-workers, as space in a factory is too valuable 

 to be used for a purpose which gives so poor a return.' 



Summing up the investigation : — ' There has been a noticeable diminu- 

 tion in the hours of labour and in the amount of overtime worked in bu.sy 

 seasons, for which the Acts have largely been responsible ; regularity of 

 work has also been encouraged. Men have been practically unaftected by 



' The new rules are diiected to diminish pUimbism, arising from the use of a 

 lead bed against which the file is held. There has been considerable controversy as 

 to the actual danger to different classes of workers from this cause. 



