Wages in 1873: Address read before the Social Science Association at Norwich

by Earl Thomas Brassey Brassey

Shipbuilding.

Perhaps no branch of industry has been more successfully prosecuted in this country than shipbuilding; and the extensive use of iron for ships of the largest type makes it a point of great interest to ascertain how far the cost of building ships has been affected by the recent advance of wages. I am informed by an eminent firm of shipbuilders, that at the close of 1871, shortly after the reduction in the hours of labour from fifty-nine or sixty hours a week to fifty-four, an agitation was commenced amongst all classes of men for an advance in their rates of wages, which has been, in some shape or other, conceded to them, to the extent of from 7½ to 15 per cent. In reality, this was the natural consequence of the reduction in the hours of labour; although, at the outset the leaders of that movement professed that they had no desire to raise the rates of wages.

The reduced hours of labour increased the cost of production of all articles, and led to the necessity for an advance in the rates of wages. In point of fact, the advantage of the reduction in the hours of labour being conceded, on social and moral grounds, the necessity for some corresponding advance in wages followed as a matter of course, and was perhaps not unreasonable. The two causes combined have resulted in an increased cost of production, so far as labour is concerned, of from 20 to 25 per cent. The cost of building first-class steamers and first-class marine engines has, in consequence of the rise in wages and materials, been increased from 30 to 40 per cent.

The actual diminution, by the nine hours’ movement, in the amount of work, turned out with a given plant, should, in theory, be only in proportion to the reduced number of the hours of work, or, say, about one-tenth. It is in reality from 15 to 20 per cent.

From an eminent firm on the Clyde, I learn that on riveters’ and smiths’ piece-work there has been an increase of 20 per cent. and 10 per cent. respectively, in the last two years; on the other hand, in fitters’ piece-work there has been a decrease of 10 per cent. The price of first-class steamers in 1871 was about £24 per ton. At present the cost would be from 30 to 35 per cent. higher. While the building of sailing ships decreased in 1871 and 1872, in 1873 there has been an increase in the number built. The building of steamers has not been so brisk in 1873 as in 1871 or 1872; a marked falling-off in orders having taken place since the beginning of this year.

On the Thames I find that piece-work is at least 15 per cent. dearer now than in 1869 and 1870. The operatives, employed in attending to large self-acting machines, which require little manual labour, are only working fifty-four hours instead of sixty hours. Again, there has been a large increase of overtime, since the nine hours’ movement commenced. Wages for overtime are higher than for ordinary time. An hour and a half’s pay is given for every hour’s work, and many men refuse to work unless a certain amount of overtime is given to them.

With these recent reports from shipbuilders it may be useful to compare the general progress of shipbuilding in the United Kingdom, in the last ten years. The tonnage of the ships built increased from 328,000 tons in 1867 to 475,000 tons in 1872. There has been no increase in the registered tonnage in the interval, but the vast increase in the proportion of steam to sailing vessels will fully explain the apparently stationary condition of the mercantile marine, if tested solely by the amount of tonnage. It is equally reassuring to find that, in the estimation of foreigners best qualified to form an opinion, the extent of our merchant navy excites profound admiration. M. Bal, director of the Bureau Veritas, in giving evidence before the French Parliamentary Commission of inquiry into the condition of the French Mercantile Marine, said that to him it seemed almost incredible that England, which has only 27,000,000 inhabitants, had 6,903,000 tons of shipping, whereas all the other maritime Powers combined had only 6,648,000 tons.

In the United States, until the quite recent, and still but partial, revival of the trade, the decline of shipbuilding had been very remarkable. In a country possessed of less natural resource, the suffering, which would have been entailed on the particular industries, would have been almost insupportable. According to Mr. Wells, 15,000 men were employed in New York, in 1860, in building and repairing marine steam engines. In 1870, fewer than 700 found employment in the same branch of industry.

In France, it would seem, from the report of Mr. West, that a wooden ship costs from £3 to £4 a ton more than a similar ship built in England or Canada; and in regard to iron steamers, the price of wrought iron in France for shipbuilding purposes is so much higher than in England, as to make competition impossible.

Amid the many difficulties of the present time, English employers may perhaps take comfort by looking abroad, where they will generally find that the same problems, with which they have to deal, are presenting themselves, and often in a still more aggravated form.