Card Mounting.—There were only 3 girls at that, but sometimes there are as many as 12 or 13. This consists of pasting the advertisement, almanac, etc., on to a piece of cardboard, varnishing it, eyeletting it, tying the bits of cord through (the 3 girls were doing that), and sometimes putting gelatine over the surface—a minor trade, at which they get better paid.
The same girls do occasional work in the cutting room; not at the big guillotines, but (a) at feeding a machine which cuts the strips down or blocks into bent shapes like a small almanac of ——'s mustard which I saw; (b) at putting shapes on to huge piles of sheets of advertisements and labels, which are then pressed into the sheets by a heavy top weight being brought down by steam. They were doing some big "flies," on to which a string was to be put, so that they could be whirled round and buzz.
Binding Room.—There were only about 12 girls employed, but there was room for 100, and they have them in at a press of work. They do folding by hand in this firm for certain newspapers and all sorts of advertisements. Wire stitching is also done. They were folding various things, packing up labels, and so on, when I was there.
REGULARITY.—The firm's trade fluctuates, but by no regular fixed seasons; they are always busy before Christmas.
HEALTH.—I was told that it was quite a mistake to think bronzing unhealthy. The manager stated he had known men at it for months at a time without any evil effects. They sometimes imagined themselves ill, but he had never known of a single case of real illness. They grumble at doing it, and pretend that they are afraid of it because then they get extra money (1s. extra a week). They really object to it because it is bad for clothes—as you get covered with dust—and uncomfortable to be all powdered with gold.
He had a machine below on which most work was done, except when there was a great press. Messrs. —— gave him out so many thousand to do; he could not do them fast enough with only one machine, and it was not worth while having more than one as he had not work enough ordinarily. No dust escaped from the machine. As a proof of the healthiness of bronzing he said that he stood for three or four hours in the middle of it all, "keeping them to their work" (which they want), and got all covered over with the dust himself. "You wouldn't get a manager doing that himself if it were unhealthy." He always gave his bronzers one pint of milk a day to drink, he stated with pride.
The other work, folding, card mounting, etc., was all quite healthy. Indeed, work was unhealthy more on account of bad ventilation than of any circumstance belonging to itself; he always had the window open and a board put across the bottom, 6 ins. high, on the most approved plan. The workpeople grumbled very much and tried to paste up every crevice with brown paper, but they could not shut it. They objected to the incandescent burners which he put in, for they liked the heat of the gas and missed it.
DANGERS.—Occasionally girls catch their skirts in wheels and so on, but there are never any "bad accidents." "With people of that class it is 'funk' more than pain that they suffer; they will turn as white as anything from just a little flesh wound with a cog-wheel." The Factory Inspectors were very fussy about fencing machinery, he thought. He told me long stories about men's carelessness and how the boys would sit on the edge of the lift. He fined them 2s. 6d. for it.
HOURS.—The hours are about 54 a week, from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner. The women are allowed by the forewomen to have lunch in the middle of the morning and tea in the afternoon, and when the men are industrious the manager has no objection to their taking "snacks." If it is an idler, he objects.
When busy, the work continues till 8 p.m. He had not used special exemption once the last year.