The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-05 00:00:00

The Times has published the following letter:—

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mboo.

HE

I have read the different articles and statements
inserted in the daily papers in connection with the
piecework and labour question, and I cannot help
coming to the conclusion that a large amount of mis-
understanding still seems-to exist on matters relating
to those subjects. ,
It has been stated that Men working on piece-work
are liable to earn less than the ordinary rate of day-
work wages, but this is not the case, as I do not know
of any engineering works where piecework is worked in
which the ordinary day-work wages are not guaranteed
by the masters.
I believe that the majority of the more intelligent.
and educated _ members of the working classes
-throughout Great Britain prefer working on piece-
'work to day-work, and it is only natural they should,
-seeing that fir 3 same,pumber of hours they work
they. kra '. 1! to Mr on piece-work from one-
fourth to douli- 4. e amount of wages they could earn
on day-work. A a 1,
'But While I believe that a large number of the more
telligent artizans hold these views, I know that, for
obvious reasons, they are not prepared in all cases to
allow their, individual judgment and predilections to
▪ ppose the instructions or orders they may receive from
ilhe council of their respective Trade Soeieties.
I believe that generally the leaders of the Trade
'Societies are opposed to piece-work, as they profess to
think it has a degrading tendency, and that it is
.npposed to the beat welfare ofdabour; but how and in
that way they do not always appear to be able to
enlighten us. As far as my own observation and ex-
perience have gene,' I believe the best men in every
sense of the word both as regards high moral character
▪as well as skill, are to be found in those works where
.piecewotk is most efficiently adopted.
trge leaders of the Trade Societies appear to have
io
gotten that the English labourer knows too well
dem past experience what work on. day-work wages
'eans. They do no, seem to have reccilleeted that the
whole of the agricultural industry of England until
'Very recently adopted in its most complete form the
'ay-work system, and the results of the working of
that system were certainly far from being very en-
couraging.
It was one of the foremost objects of the great work
Aoneered and-ably carried out by Canon Girdlestone
. the other enlightend economists who sympathized
,11 him,- tct advocate 'the raisin z of the 'wages and
iimprove the social condition of the agricultural labourer
'by means of intrcducing into agricultural industry the
piece-work sl stem, and most laappy and encouraging'
results have followed wherever that principle has been
adopted.

Ii is strange that the intelligent leaders of the
Amalgamated Engineers do not see how contrary is
the proposal for the abolition of piece-work to the laws
of political economy.
( If they could persuade the whole world and every
iiiiavernment and, individual to agree, not to purchase
' at the lowest market, but at artificial prices, then,
perhaps, they might realize their lishes,as rthe
bolition of ;piece4ork; but who would be thareal
sufferers in the long run if such a state of things could
be brought about? Why, not the masters, but the
men themselves, as the nominal rate of day-work wages
would not advance, but would, in course of time, pro- :
bably fall in value, while the coat of production of allf
articles of clothing and food being so much increased,.
the purchasing power of their wages would be propor-
htionately lessened.
. lam aware that the Society of Amalgamated Engi-
neers says it does not at present propose to abolish
piece-work in established works, but merely to prevent
its extension in new works. But what does this really
mean? Does it not mean that there should be no new
einineering works established in Great Britain, as it Is.
nUperfectly clear that the new works could not com-
pete with the old works where piece-work was fully.
adopted? And if no new works could be established,
'*here is the increase of population to earn wages?
(i. Must Englishmen be driven to Germany,. France,
and Belgium to establish workshops to supply the
wants of England; and must the English artisans of :
the future be driven away from the shores of England .
to find employment in those foreign workshops, and to .
earn lower wages than if they remained in England?
_ know that many of the members of the Trade
Societies who advocate the abolition of piece-work
contend" that a man will do as much work, and do it I
better or equally well when working on day•work as '
he would on piece-work wages ; but surely no one who '
has had any experience of life, and who has been
thrown much among the working classes, will for one
moment be prepared to accept this statement as a
.truism?

Are not all our experiences just the reverse of this?
Do we not know how far less efficiently done and how
much more costly is work when executed by day-work
than by piece-work?
I do not say that the Trade Societies have no just
causes for complaint with the way in which the details
,he piece-work are sometimes carried out; on the
contrary, I think they have, and I should be glad if
the practical application of the details of the piece-work
system were made the subject of an inquiry for a
council or' commission formed .of masters and men,
with a view to seeing whether some of the causes of
complaints raised against piece-work cannot be re-
moved.—l am, Sir, yours truly,
FRANCIS WILLIAM Fox.
Atlas Engine Works, Bristol, Jan. 26.
_
PA aalizi AN ICE RINK.
A

new and startling sensation awaits the pleasure-
seekers of the ensuing London season. Roller skates
and the like are quite thrown into the shade by a per-
fect sheet of solid ice, maintained constantly at a low
temperature so as to bear skaters all day and all night
long if necessary. For five or six years Professor John.
Garngee has been working incessartly at the economi-
cal production of artificial cold as applicable to fresh
meat preservation, and this has led to so remarkable
a control over temperature.as to provide a remedy for
the evils of asphalte and roller skates. On January
6th he completed a rink of modest dimensions, but
which has since afforded pleasure to some scores of
skaters. The frost set in just as the rink was com-
pleted, and the thermometer registered under the shed
when the ice was laid 35 deg. Fahr. in the daytime,
but as low as 19 deg. Fahr. in the night. Since
the ice is formed artificially from below up-
wards the difficulty to contend with at first walk
the simultaneous freezing of the double layers
of icb which, however, :soon joined, owing to the
moreintense cold from the machine below. A thaw
soon set in, and whereas it took from two to four hours
to get a good surface in frosty nights, with warmer
weather and ready surface evaporation one hour then
sufficed to get a renewed layer of glassy ice. Very
interesting experiments were performed, by cutting'
',deep boles in the ice and ponying hoiling.Water in the
stopped
ltofprpeeedzinags
long
gd
aassfrhomighFraidsasy
wounds, which instantly bp,lea..by what a surgeOn
' irwand•cl.tgyAntr, for the ikayasittemlorotfpoigv
• Werra} &1 the fornia.tie:procss.. The air .too ht
n4i7e ha1:214 been lel'heaasd cho°li.idelaecac lu)4vmulacintorea,
nightdeg
in spite of these high temperatures, the refrigerating
macto Monday morning. On two occasions only, owing
,to the work in progress has tne s:ightest thaw been
• seen on-the surface of the ice, and on one of these our
informant happened to be present, and saw that whilst
' a thin film •gave way during some- alterations to-tb'e
PUMZS EO soon as the circul4ion skirted thesurface dried
uP promptly and become covered with a rime from
.condensation of the .moisture .from the -atmosphere.'
Th.e skaters, members of -the' London Skating Chtb
and oilier., have prononnced the -ice to be the hardest
2.nd best that they have over tried, and this is not to
--tie wondered at when it is considered that a layer from
one and a half to two and &half inches thick can be
. frozen by Mr. Ganagee's. uncongealable compoubdslft'
temperatures varying from •20. deg. to 30- deg-. 1
freezing-point. The ice-machine itself' ia remai
for a condenser which enables-one towork• with only
five gallons of. ether in a machine.: which 'in a few
hours lowers between three and four tonrof 'liquid
from 45 deg. or 59 deg. Fahr. to 0 deg. Fahr. • At Pfk
sent it, is workingat a vacuum of twenty'-foire tot
'five inches, but in. his numerous -econotuiei the ilNen-
ior believes he has at last superseded expensife air.
Pumps. , The .present engine- at his• ice works,
Kingla-read, Chelsea, . adequate • to work machinery
to make over, ten tons of ice daily consumes
just a little over one hundredweight of cos
per hour, and a very extensive ice rink" can be
.mainfained with half this expenditure of fuel: In 'a
sanitary point of view, says Mr. Eassie, repeated"
visits made by him indicate that the ice has no ten-
dency tp produce cold injurious to the feet. The ice
is itself never above 32 'deg. Fahr., Whatever may be
the temperature of the uncongealable liquid below it,
and the tendency ia,to dry. the,walmaitabove without
~:t4 II .0. )1180.ft VO%ll
Vann' a

below I
remarkable_