The rate of wages paid by the machine company is 16s. a week, so that the full amount of wages is paid to the men.
But though the company cannot be ranked among the grinders of the scavaging trade, they must be placed among “the drivers.”
I am assured, by those who are familiar with such labour, that the 24 men employed by the machine masters do the work of upwards of 30 in the honourable trade, with a corresponding saving to their employers, from an adherence to the main point of the scurf system, the overworking of the men without extra payment.
It has been before stated that, in dry weather, the roads require to be watered before being swept, so that the brushes may bite. In summer the machine-men sometimes commence this part of their business at three in the morning; and at the other periods of the year, sometimes at early morning, when moonlight. In summer the hours of labour in the streets are from three, four, five, or six in the morning, to half-past four in the afternoon; in winter, from light to light, and after street there may be yard and barge work.
The saving by this scurf system, then, is:—
| 30 men (honourable trade), 16s. weekly | £1248 | yearly. |
| 24 men (scurf-trade) doing same work, 16s. weekly | 998 | „ |
| Saving to capitalist and loss to labourer | £250 | „ |
It now but remains to sum up the capital, income, and expenditure of the machine-scavaging trade.
The cost of a street-sweeping machine is 50l. to 60l., with an additional 5l. 5s. for the set of brooms. The wear and tear of these machines are very considerable. A man who had the care of one told me that when there was a heavy stress on it he had known the iron cogs of the inner wheels “go rattle, rattle, snap, snap,” until it became difficult to proceed with the work. The brooms, too, in hard work and “cloggy” weather, are apt to snap short, and in the regular course of wear have to be renewed every four or five weeks. The sets of brooms are of bass, worked strongly with copper wire. The whole apparatus can be unscrewed and taken to pieces, to be cleaned or repaired. The repairs, independently of the renewal of the brooms, have been calculated at 7l. yearly each machine. The capital invested, then, in twelve street-sweeping machines, in the horses, and what may be considered the appurtenances of the trade, together with the yearly expenditure, may be thus calculated:—
Capital of Street-Sweeping Machine Trade.
| 12 machines, 60l. each | £720 |
| 12 sets of brooms, 5l. 5s. each set | 63 |
| 19 horses, 25l. each | 475 |
| 4 water-carts, 20l. each | 80 |
| 19 sets of harness (new), 7l. each set | 133 |
| 4 barges, 50l. each | 200 |
| £1671 |