PROGRESS OF THE SMALL ARMS MANUFACTURE. 439 
The out- working system leads to the employment of a considerable 
number of young boys, who are employed mainly in carrying the work 
from one to another as it passes through its several stages. 
No very correct estimate can be given of the rate of wages earned by 
the workmen in the gun trade. With very few exceptions the work is 
paid for by the piece, and the rate varies considerably with the demand. 
During the past ten years there is little doubt but that the wages earned 
in this trade have probably exceeded those in any other. Several branches 
require very high skill, and the remuneration is in proportion ; for in- 
stance, barrel boring and setting, stocking, rifling, lock- filing, &c. A 
judgment can be formed of the delicacy of workmanship required in the 
first of these branches, when I state that a military barrel has to be 
bored with such truth that it must receive a plug measuring 577 thou- 
sands of an inch, and is condemned as useless if it take one of 580. A 
workman in this branch, in full employment, has frequently been 
known to earn his 51. to 61. a week. 
It is a very common practice in many of the branches for a workman 
to employ several assistants, whether working in the factory of his em- 
ployer or as an out worker ; such men, while paying those under them 
at the rate of 5s. to 10s. for boys, and 15s. to 26s. to adults per week, 
will take for their own share several pounds. A workman is held to be 
an inferior hand who, in ariy of the skilled branches cannot earn, single- 
handed, 30s. per week. It must be admitted that in many cases the 
high wages confer little benefit — the money is frequently wasted, and 
bad habits encouraged ; but, on the other hand, many are known to 
have saved money. Workmen in this trade will be found enrolled in 
one or other of the freehold land societies of this town, and living in 
houses of their own. The recent bank failure in Birmingham dis-- 
covered savings which were little known before. In one case a finisher 
who had steadily remained in the employment of one master for twenty- 
five years, was found to have no less than 800Z. lying in the bank. 
Strikes have occurred in the gun trade, but happily not frequently. 
The gun makers engaged in the military arms trade are associated to- 
gether, one object being the regulation of wages to be paid to workmen. 
The men, in like manner, act together, the respective leading branches 
having their own organisation. Master and men each know the strength 
of the other, and have on the whole so arranged their mutual dealings as 
to avoid disputes. 
A serious strike occcurred in 1849, which lasted nine weeks. It was 
finally settled by arbitration. With that exception during the last ten 
years, but few difficulties have occurred. 
The Birmingham workmen are much more highly paid than those of 
Belgium and France. We find it stated in evidence given by French 
gun makers before a Government commission, appointed to inquire into 
the state of the gun trade of France in 1860, that the average earnings 
vol. vi. z z 
