The engineering trade.
Passing from shipbuilding to engineering, I have ascertained that in an establishment on the largest scale, in which the cost of production has been minimised to the utmost, the increased cost of production in 1871 over 1870 was, for wages, 2.73 per cent., and for materials, 2.59 per cent. Again, the increase in 1872 over 1871 was, for wages, 7.97, and for materials, 7.94 per cent., thus showing that the most liberal application of capital, the most ingenious machinery, and skilful administration, had failed to compensate for the great advance in the rate of wages.
I may also quote the following details from a report received from an engineering establishment with which I am connected.
The average wages of some of the most important trades in our employ in 1871, 1872, and 1873, were as follows:—
Year 1871. | Year 1872. | Year 1873. | ||||
s. | d. | s. | d. | s. | d. | |
Fitters | 29 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
Turners | 30 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
Planers | 24 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
Slotters | 24 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
Drillers | 20 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
Moulders | 34 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
Dressers | 24 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
Coppersmiths | 32 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
Smiths | 31 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
Strikers | 19 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
Patternmakers | 31 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
Joiners | 30 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
Carpenters | 42 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
Painters | 29 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
Platers (boilermakers) | 34 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
Riveters | 28 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
Holders-up | 24 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
Platers (ship yard) | 35 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
Riveters | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
Holders-up | 23 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
Labourers | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
In reply to my inquiry, as to the effect of the nine hours’ movement in diminishing the amount of work turned out, I am informed that, while wages have considerably advanced, no increased activity on the part of the men has taken place. Indeed, less work is performed in nine hours now than formerly when ten hours constituted an ordinary day’s work.
The rise of wages has been very considerable in the last two years. The price of locomotives has, in consequence of these various causes, increased from 25 to 30 per cent. An ordinary passenger engine, which might have been built in 1871 for £2,200, cost in 1872 £2,400, and in the present year the price would be £2,600. In modern marine engines the cost of materials and labour is about equal. An engine, which might have been built in 1871, at £40 per horse-power, would have cost in 1872 £46. In the present year the price has advanced from £55 to £60 per horse-power.
In one of the largest steel and iron works in the North I learn that the wages of skilled hands are now from ten to sixteen shillings a day, and have increased 25 per cent. since 1870.
Lastly, I am informed that there is no appreciable difference in the dress or appearance of the working man in the town, in which my works are situated, that there is more money and more time spent in the public-house, and that time in the morning is not so well kept now as it was before the nine hours’ movement commenced. It is suggested to me that the improvement in wages and the shortening of the time came too suddenly upon the working man.
It is sometimes difficult to overcome a feeling of depression as to the future of our mechanical industry. But, when we look to the progress made in the past, there is no ground for discouragement. The value of our exports of steam engines in 1866 was £1,760,000, in 1872 £2,995,000. The value of our exports of machinery of other sorts was, in 1866, £2,998,000; in 1872, £5,606,000. The past has been prosperous, and there is no reason why a cloud should overshadow the future of our industry, if only the time-honoured rule be observed, of giving a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wages.