The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-23 00:00:00

Sheffield Woe- shops.

The Children's Employment Commission deal, in
the report which they have just issued, with the
metal trades of the Sheffield district; and, as in
the instance of Birmingham and Wolverhampton,
so in the instance of Sheffield, they strongly recom-
mend the application of the Factory Acts, securing
the abolition of night work for the young, and the
observance of the half-time system of work and
education. A few extracts from the report and
evidence presented by Mr. J. E. White, the Assist-
ant-Commissioner, will show the need of legislative
interference to prevent the abuse of the power of
parents and employers. The Commissioners con-
sider the statements calculated to excite pain and
surprise of no ordinary kind

" Children begin to work in those employments at about
9 or 10 years of age, and from this age upwards they are
employed Whenever light work, and in some cases work
which is not light, can be found for them. It is common
for children to enter upon one of the deadliest occupations
known, viz., fork grinding, as young as 9 ; most begin at
or before the aga of:10, some as young as 8 or 7. Mr. White
adds, that 'he found a child of 6 years old at a wheel where
he had worked for some months at other dry grinding for
his father. The employment in which most of the young
children are found is cutlery. Girls as well as boys some-
times begin this at 7 and oven 6 years old,' and one boy
whom Mr. White found at work had begun at 5. A
woman who began cutlery herself at 6 years old, put her
own lass, now dead, on at three weeks turned 6.' In
most cases,' says Mr. White, 'the youngest children are
employed by their own parents or relations,' often in con-
sequence of the intemperate or improvident habits of their
parents."

The work described in the following passages is
performed by boys of from 9 to 12 years of age in,
generally speaking, a very high temperature, often
in very close and ill-ventilated rooms, while inhaling
in a large proportion of instances the deadly dust
thrown off by the processes of grinding, and in
operations connected with it. Mr. White says :
" The practice of boys working at all by day and night
turns, either in the usual course of things or at pressing
times, seems inevitably to open the door to their not unfre-
quently working unduly long hours. T hese hours are indeed,
in some cases, not only cruelly but even incredibly long for
children. Among a number of boys it will of course not
nnfrequently happen that one or more are from some cause
absent. When this happens their place is made up by one
or more boys, who work in the other turn. That this is a
well understood system is plain, not only from the state-
ments of boys themselves, nearly all of whom, if ques-
tioned on the point, state that they have done so, but per-
haps still more clearly from the answer of the manager of
some large rolling mills, who, when I asked him how the
place of boys absent from their turn was made up, answered
'I dare say, sir, you know that as well as I do,' and admitted
the fact. But not only in this way, but also in places in
which nightwork is not part of the system, an excessive
amount of overtime isnot unfrequently thrown upon young
boys, e.g., quarter of a day, a half, or even a whole period
of 12 hours in the 24. This is especially the case in steel
and iron rolling of the lighter kinds, e.g., for crinoline and
wire. A boy 9 years old, or at most 10, worked at crinoline
steel rolling three nights running as well as on the days, and
this under his own father. 'We should have gone so (i.e.,
nights as well days) to the end of the week, only the engine
broke down.' His case, and the appeals which he repeatedly
made to me, whether he might not 'go to school a bit longer
instead of working, struck me as peculiarly painful.
Another, now 11, who went at 9 years old to hardening and
tempering crinoline steel, worked there from 7 a.m. till
half-past 9 p.m. four nights a week for many and many a
month,' many a time till 12 at night,' and either once or
twice worked from 7 in the morning all through the next
night and day, and on till 12 the following night. I had
to live very badly, and if I had no dinner he (the man)
always give me a bit. Another boy at a rolling mill, where
his proper hours were from 6 a.m. to half-past 5 p.m.,
worked about four nights every week till half-past 8 p.m. at
least, and this ,for six months out of the nine that he was
there, there being day and night relays in the remaining
three months, and for about four months he worked one day
and night together every week, and sometimes two days and
two nights running. Another, at nine years old, sometimes
made three 12-hour shifts running, and when ton has made
two days and two nights running. Another, now 13, at a
former place worked all night some Fridays, and other
nights, except Mondays, always till Bor 9 p.m. Another,
now ten, at a former place worked from 6 a.m. till 12 p m.
three nights, and till 9 p.m. the other nights,in his only week
there. Another, now 14, has worked sometimes from 6 a.m.
on Friday till 2 p.m. on Saturday. Another, now 13, at a for-
mer place worked from 6 p.n till 12 noon next day for a

week together, and sometimes for three shifts together, e.g.,
from Monday morning till Tuesday night. Another, :now
12, has worked in an ironfoundry at Stavely from 6 a.m. till
12 p.m. for a fortnight on end ; could not do it any more.
Another, aged 9—' Before I came here I was nearly ayearat
the same work at some works in the country. Came here as
cellar-boy last Friday. Next morning we had to begin at
3, so I stopped here all night. Live five miles off. Slept
on the floor of the furnace overhead, with an apron under
me and a bit of jacket over me. The two other days I
have been here at 6 a.m. Ay ! it is hot in here.' Father
of the last boy.—' Work in the furnace. Last Saturday
morning we began work at 2. We had slept in the fur-
nace, being strangers in the town. We live at Wadsley,
four or five miles off. We have to be here at 6 a.m. It is
a long way for the boy to come and go back each day,
though I can manage it. I should like to get some place
in the town for him to stay in. Saturday afternoon he
gives over at 2 or 3.
"An under-manager There is a good deal of heavy
work. I have seen a boy of 14 years old using a 221 b.
hammer in file-forging, and some who have grown com-
pletely out of form from the work."'
. .

The following are some of the many instances
given in the evidence which betray the same lament-
able amount of ignorance which Mr. White brought
to notice as existing at Birmingham among chil-
dren of the same age engaged in similar branches
of manufacture :

"Henry Stow, aged 14 Went to work at shears at a
cutlery manufactory when going 7 years old. Can read a
bit, but not write at all. Don't know of London, or Queen
Victoria, or if she is a woman, or takes care of the country.'
John Holmes, aged 13 Know most of my letters. Had
to go to day-school till father began to' be bad, and go always
on Sunday and to church. There is no night school about
our house now, but there is at winter when its frosty, and
there's snow on the ground, and I go then and pay 6d. a
week. (Is asked of Queen Victoria.) Have heard the
name on it ; can't tell what it means. She finds 'em money.
The Bible is the Holy Bible. Have not heard of the Tes-
tament, Gospel, Adam, or Jesus Christ. An angel is an
image.' John Morris, aged 14 :---‘ Get Bs. 6d. a week, and
have 6d. of it for myself. For nearly a year have put 4d.
out of this into the bank. Do not go to school on Sun-
day or at night ; have no good clothes to go in. Father
makes 18s. a week, one of my brothers 10s., and I
have three sisters at work. Three of us are at home too
little to work. Go to a church, but I can't get nigh enough
to understand the words. Have heard say that God made
the world, and that all the people were drowned but one;
heard say that one was a little bird. Suppose that Christ
was a man. He was a father and teached 'em to read out of
a Bible. Think he was put to a cross.' William Smith, age
15, moulder :—' Never was at day school in my life, except
for a week or two, and do not ever go at night, but do on
Sunday, and to chapel. My cousin .teaches me reading a
little. Heard at chapel of Samuel fighting with a lot of
soldiers. Have not heard of ParadiSe. The garden of Eden
is where men goes and eats off a tree. It was not any par-
ticular man. Do not know if Adam and Eve were the first
people in the world. God made man; man made woman.' "
The Commissioners state that :

"A very serious consequence of the defective state of
education in Sheffield is showing itself in the contracted
views of large numbers of the workpeople in regard to
the introduction of machinery. Files in the Sheffield district
are still made by hard labour only. Machinery has lately
been adopted for that purpose near Manchester. In France
excellent looking files are produced in that way,' and the
French are selling large quantities of files to Sheffield cus-
tomers on the Continent, almost equal in appearance' to
those of Sheffield, and at little more half the price. It is
anticipated that the gradual improvement in skill and know-
ledge in the French workmen will enable them to bring
their work up to an equality with that of Sheffield; and it
is obvious that the interests of the English trade must in
the end suffer if the work can be done, as it can, at a much
lower cost in other countries by the use of machinery. The
same difficulty prevents the introduction of machinery in
other branches of our trade.' "

After having the evidence of employers on the
consequences of a prohibition of night work by boys,
the Commissioners came to the following conclu-

Sion :
" Considering that the percentage of boys under 18 em-
ployed in night-ships is not great ; that being eo employed
at all exposes them to the liability to work double shifts, or
in the words of Mr. White, in some cases cruelly, if not
incredibly late hours,' and considering that in a manufacture
requiring the utmost physical strength it is of public im-
portance that the physical powers of the operatives should
not be prematurely undermined, we are of opinion that the
evidence, on the whole, justifies the adoption of factory
hours ; and we think that if the age of 18, as the one below
which no young person should be employed otherwise than
according to the regulations of the Factory Act, were
arrived at by progressive stages of a year each from the
time of the passing of the act, a great proportion of the
presumed difficulty would be obviated. It might be enacted
that for the first year boys of 14 might be employed as at
present; this would exclude from night work very few of
those who are now employed regularly in night relays. The
boys therefore of 14 being thus available at once, the ex-
clusion of all under 18 would be very gradual, and it might
reasonably be anticipated that by the end of the four years
asufficient numberof youths of 18 would have b3en brought
up in each work to enable the night relays to be carried on
without difficulty or material increase of expense. And
when the provisions of the Factory Acts have fairly taken
effect at Sheffield, it may 133 fully anticipated that the same
judgment of their utility and benefit both to employers
and workpeople will be formed, as is expressed in the fol-
lowing paragraph by the medical officer of Barnsley :
" am very glad that Government is taking up this in-
quiry. The factory legislation has contributed wonderfully
to the good feeling and contentment of the working classes ;
all like it now. Even masters and others who oppose it ap-
prove of it, and the working classes !Teak of it as " our
grand charter." In this neighbourhood we have the means
of judging. The change of feeling in this town since it
was introduced, from one of political and social disquietude
to one of order and contentment, is wonderful ; no one not
acquainted with the facts could conceive it.' "
In relation to the
_injurious consequences of night
work upon the young, the Commssioners cite the
testimony of a professional man, who writes :
" Light acts upon the tissues of the body directly in
hardening them and supporting their elasticity. The
muscles of animals, when they are deprived of a proper
amount of light, come soft and inelastic, the nervous power
loses its tone from defective stimulation, and the elabora-
tion of growth seems to be perverted. . . . In the case of
children, constant access to plenty of light through the
day, and to the direct rays of the sun for a part of it, is
most essential to health. Light assists in the elaboration
of good plastic blood out of the food, and hardens the fibre
after it has been laid down lt also acts as a stimulant
upon the organs of sight, and by this means brings about
more activity in the various cerebral functions than would
otherwise be the case I have had opportunity for-
merly, when in Lancashiref of observing the effects of
night work upon factory children, and I have no hesita-
tion in saying that, contrary to what some employers were
fond of asserting, those children who were subjected to it
soon suffered in their health, as I, then attached to a dis-
pensary, had abundant evidence of it."
We may add testimony from another source upon
the subject of overwork in these trades. In the last
report on railways in India there is a letter from
Dr. Brinton, in which he states that he had last
year to reject as many as one in five of the candi-
dates for appointments on the railways. He says
"In the majority of cases rejection has been necessary
from organic lesions, or obvious tendencies to disease, such
as would disqualify the subjects of them for acceptance as
' first-class lives' by any London office adopting the usual
method of inquiry through a qualified physician. In many
instances such lesions or tendencies have been associated
with a certain degree of what may be termed premature
decay, the constitution and organs resembling those of a
person older than the age already attained. This condition,
which is of course a disqualification for many arduous me-
chanical callings in India, and which especially lowers the
resisting force required successfully to oppose the influence
of change of climate, is not uncommon among those whose
labour through life has hitherto been unusually fatiguing
—for example, among workers in metal, and especially
among those habitually engaged in piecework. It is, per-
haps, an illustration of this statement to notice that while
the average age of the persons examined is 30, the average
age of those.rejected is from 33 to 35 years."

THE COAL AND IRON TRADES OF NORTH STAF-
FORDSHIRE.—A special meeting of the coal and iron-
stone masters of this district was held at Stoke-upon Trent
on Wednesday last, and was very influentially and nume-
rously attended. The object of the meeting was to receive
and consider the report of a committee, appointed on the
18th of August last, upon the subject of establishing a
fund for supporting members o 1 the association in resisting
unjust demands on the part of their men. The committee
reported that it was desirable to establish such a fund, to
be formed by a contribution from the members, per ton of
coal and ironstone raised, which should be available for an
allowance to those masters who, with the sanction of the
association, resist a strike of their men ; and that the
committee of management should have power to make calls
in advance, so as to render the fund immediately available.
The report of the committee was unanimously adopted,
and every firm represented at the meeting enrolled as sub-
scribers, in addition to those who had signified their ap-
proval of the plan by letter to the secretary.

LADVERTISEMENT.I-11olloway's Pills and Ointment.—
Be not Deceived.—There is a giant marching onwards
from the East, who threatens to invade our prosperous
country. His name is Cholera, and his cohorts consist of
Impurity, Irregularity, 'Debility, and Despondency. Each
of these provocatives of this dire disease may be overcome
by Holloway's remedies provided thby be resorted to with-
out delay the moment listlessness, looseness, feverishness,
or pain betrays disordered action. The " Directions" will
enable the least cultivated to treat successfully and subdue
completely these warning symptoms of cholera. When
confidence in Holloway's preparations has been once esta-
blished, each believer in their virtues will humanely recom-
mend them to his acquaintances. that none may foolishly
harbour the foe's friends within.his own fortress.