1877*] Cornish China Clay . 507 
course, the many circumstances which influence commercial 
markets. They at present (July, 1877) range from 155. to 
30s. f. 0. b. 
As in excavating and preparing the clay no great amount 
of skilled workmanship is required, only men of the common 
labourer class are as a rule employed. These are generally 
under the superintendence of foremen, or, as they are 
locally called, “ captains,’' who are men that have raised 
themselves by ability and experience. The wages of the 
men are 2 s. 6 d. for a day’s work of seven and a half hours, 
a rate of pay which — especially when considering the 
abundant time afforded for extra work, and the facilities in 
Cornwall for cheap living among the poorer classes— -com- 
pares most favourably with the wages earned by labourers 
of other avocations. The men, too, are not checked for 
rainy days when they cannot work, and the occupation is a 
very healthy one. In some parts also a system of piece- 
work is adopted, under which the men usually make from 
3s. to 3s. 6d. per day. With these earnings the Cornish 
labourer — renting perhaps a small respectable house for 
about £3 or £4 per annum, and, if he be married, his wife 
and children probably being also employed in the clay 
works, or in connection with the neighbouring tin or copper 
mines — may be said to rank in the social scale with skilled 
artisans in many other parts of England. 
Until within the last two or three years the relations be- 
tween the men and their employers had been noticeably 
good, but in the fall of 1875 the masters, as the trade was 
very dull, decided upon reducing the rate of wage by 3d. per 
day. This was strongly and openly objected to by the men, 
and ultimately the rate was allowed to remain at 25. 6 d. A 
Trades’ Union was then formed among the labourers, osten- 
sibly for regulating the “ rates of wages and the hours of 
work,” although from its subsequent proceedings it would 
seem rather to have been for annoying the masters as much 
as possible in revenge for their attempt to shorten pay; 
and although by no means wishing to depreciate the value 
of Trades’ Unions generally, yet we must certainly say that 
this short-lived union presents an example of the excess of 
folly to which well-intentioned but misguided men can be 
urged by the representations of factious agitators. Not- 
withstanding, too, that several months have now elapsed 
since the strike occurred and the animosities excited by it 
have mostly subsided, yet we think a brief and impartial 
statement of the faCts of the matter here to be not alto- 
