230 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Man., 1899. 
The manufacture embraces four processes :— 
1. Cutting of the straw. 
2. Sewing it together. 
3. Binding on a wooden, bottle-shaped last. 
4. Cutting off uneven ends. 
This is chiefly done by girls and children, the heavy work, such as cutting, 
loading, unloading the straw, and pressing the wrappers into bales, being 
effected by men. 
WAGES. 
The wages earned by the workpeople do not appear to amount to what 
would in this colony be called a “ living wage.” The machines are worked by 
girls who receive from 2s. to 4s. Sd. per week, when employed on the small 
machines, whilst for working the large ones the highest rate is 5s. 1d. 
The binding and cutting are done by boys and girls, whose wages range 
from 2s. 6d. to 6s. Gd., and men earn about 8s. weekly. 
In a factory where the machinery is driven by steam and some hundred 
hands are employed, the foreman, the engineer, and the overseer earn, 
respectively, about 16s. 8d., 15s. and 11s. 3d. a week 
PRODUCTION, : 
Such a factory can turn out from 40,000 to 42,000 envelopes daily, but 
this is said to be an extreme figure, and it may be safer to assume an annual 
production of about 7,000,000 for the year as the more correct output—that 
is, about 28,000 daily. 
At Hoorn, the production amounts to between 4,500,000 to 5,000,000, 
whilst the total annual production in the Netherlands is estimated at 25,000,000. 
COST OF PRODUCTION. 
According to the evidence of a manufacturer who appeared as a witness a 
couple of years ago before a Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into 
the competition of prison-made goods, the initial cost of 1,000 wrappers 
manufactured by him amounted to 3s. 8d., against 1s.53d. charged in the prison 
at Hoorn, to which has to be added the cost of the raw materials (which for the 
reason above stated is naturally subject to variations), resulting in the prime 
cost reaching 10s. per 1,000. 
Owing to the aforesaid competition of prison-made goods, the manu- 
facturer could not realise a better price than 9s. 10d.; and he added that, from 
personal investigation in London, it appeared that the owner of the goods made 
at Hoorn had an agent at the former place who offered them at a much 
cheaper rate than the witness could sell at. It appears evident, therefore, that 
whereas the manufacturer loses money, the prison-made wrappers leave a fair 
if not a substantial profit. 
’ The fact, however, of this manufacturer not being able to make the 
business pay, need in no way act as a deterrent to the introduction of the 
industry into Queensland, for reasons which will commend themselves to 
parents with large families of girls, and to manufacturers who carry on busi- 
ness mainly by the work of the youth of both sexes, whether as apprentices 
or as weekly paid labour. We understand that one enterprising firm has 
imported a hand machine into Brisbane, and the industry has thus already 
commenced, 
MACHINES. 
Two kinds of machines are used—one worked by hand, and the other by 
steam or by foot, similar to the action of the sewing-machine. The price of 
machines varies; for instance, the price of ‘Ta Bordelaise,” packed at the 
railway station or on the quay at Bordeaux, is 2,800 franes (about £112). 
“ The Modéle 1897” costs 600 franes (£24). 
The necessary tools—including a straw-cutter, a winder, a key, and packer 
—add 600 franes (£24) to the cost of the machine. 
