Both were very communicative. The former, after repeated questions from me as to how things were done, took me over the whole place, intending only to show me the varnishing, and finally letting me see everything. He is a working-class master who has risen. His father had a small business, and he has made it a big one. It is one of the biggest firms in the trade.
TRAINING.—Card Mounting.—The firm indentures apprentices, who agree to stay three or four years. They are taken on at fourteen years of age, and are paid 4s. a week for the first year, and then receive a portion of their piece work earnings, varying according to efficiency, from one-fourth, one-half, three-fourths, two-thirds, and so on, according to skill. They come for a month first to see if they suit.
Paper Colouring and Enamelling.—In this department apprentices are also indentured for two years. They are taken on at fourteen, and are paid 4s. a week first year, then a portion of their piece earnings as above.
Varnishing and Sizing.—No training is given for this. Girls must be tall, or they are no use. Any girl will be "good at it" after three weeks.
The employer remarked that parents could not afford to pay a premium. It was very provoking when girls went off after four years, when a lot of trouble had been spent in teaching them. I was shown some cards which a girl, who was supposed to be competent, had spoilt by pasting the sheet on so that there was a blister; 385 out of 500 were similarly spoilt, and they cost 6d. each, he said.
WAGES.—Card Mounting and Paper Colouring.—Piece work rates are paid here, with overtime at the same rate. It is difficult to give an average. One girl would make 25s., while another girl would only make 7s. at the same work in the same time. After consideration, the head gave it as his opinion that 12s. 6d. a week would be what the ordinary girl would earn, taking the whole year round, slack with busy times. They were kept on all the year at this firm. Sometimes a girl would make as much as 28s.
It was further stated that a girl might make 6d. in less than an hour at night, when the colours were mixed and she was finishing a job, whereas it might take her a whole morning to earn the 6d. next day.
A quick girl could do 1,000 eyelets in an hour, eyeletting being paid at 10d. per 1,000.
Varnishing and Sizing.—Piece work wages are paid here, with overtime at same rates. Wages are reckoned by the lump sum for the gross work done, and divided equally amongst all the hands. The division is made by the firm, not the workers. We asked one girl what she took last week, and she said 14s.; but my guide said that the average would not be so high for the year, say 12s.
WORK.—There are four separate departments or businesses here, in three of which the work is done by women.