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.
Rise of wages on Continent.
I now proceed to examine the situation of affairs among our continental rivals. Valuable materials for such investigation are furnished to our hands by the recently-published reports of our Secretaries of Legation, and by a most important pamphlet prepared by Mr. Redgrave. From these authorities we learn that, in the last ten years, wages at Verviers, a great centre of industry in Belgium, have gradually increased by 20 per cent. and that the working hours are shorter than they were. At Ghent the rate of wages has risen 60 per cent. in the last fifteen years. The average prices of the necessaries of life show an increase in Belgium of 50 per cent. in the last thirty years. Beef and mutton are now 8d. per pound, and bread is about 8d. the four-pound loaf. The rise of wages has, however, been greater in proportion than the increase in the cost of lodging, clothes, and food.
In Prussia, Mr. Plunkett states that there is a universal tendency to reduce the hours of labour, and to raise the rate of wages. The Breslau Chamber of Commerce state that, in consequence of the increased cost both of labour and raw material, the prices of cotton carded yarn had advanced 10 per cent. on the best and 16 per cent. on the ordinary qualities. In the Silesian cloth trade, in 1871, prices rose 15 per cent.
In the spinning and weaving factories in Silesia, according to a statement by Dr. G. Reichenheim, quoted by Mr. Plunkett, the increase in the rate of wages in the last ten years has been about 30 per cent. for female weavers, while in the case of male labour it is more than double. The same complaints are made, which we hear in this country, as to the effect of higher pay in rendering the operatives less careful in their work, and more insubordinate than formerly.