The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-10-30
GREAT NAVAL FLEETS.
A Report on the Navies of Eng.
land, Germany and France.
Sums Paid for Construction and
Wages in Foreign Shipyards.

Naval Constructor Philip Hichborn, u S,
N, who was sent last year to visit the dock
yards of Europe, has submitted to the United
States secretary of the navy long report,
which is said by high naval authorities to be
a work of great practical value He visited
the yards of Great Britain, Frame. Germany
and Russia. He describes technically
and with much detail the shops,
docks discipline and working systems Of tho @
institutions. Constructor Hichborn says chat
in the national dockyards of Great Britain
about Is, 900 men are employed, their average
pay per day being $l.03 The total sum ex-
pended by the British government in the last
fifteen years in the construction and repair of
vessels Of the royal navy aggregates Sl7J,-
649, 625, with incidental charges which swell
the total to s2l73l9,21j.
The imperial navy of Germany dates from
October |, 1851, from which time up to the
present about Sl40, 0J1, 900 has been expended
upon the naval establishment, with the result
that Germany now ranks Us the fourth naval
power.
The navy list of Russia is formidable in
the number of vessels and men, which places
the nation third in the rank of naval powers
The apparent navy aggregated at the begin
ming Ot the present year 80 vessels of all de-
scriptions, but n c-rsory examination re-
vealed that probably not more than ~, ex-
elusive of torpedo boats, can properly be
cla>sed as vessels for offensive and defensive
warfare.
France has five dockyardS, collectively com
pri,ing an area of 800 acres She has twenty
four drydocks, and her establishments
are complete in all the requirements for
building repairing, lifting out and preserva-
tion of ships and the manufacture of stores
and articles Convict labor has been utilized in
such national work while, beside, tho wages of
| free labor are sufficiently low to accomplish
n great deal OF work at an outlay which in
this country would be regarded as insignih-
cant.
OF the work and the w1rkmen, he SAYS:
TN British private yards the bulk of the
work is given out to the men in small con-
tracts. Day wages seldom amount to more
than from 80 to % per CEN. of what the same
| trades receive in the United States. In the
royal dockyards the matter of wages is
somewhat amended. Much of the labor is
/ day work and the employees have con-
siderable attention paid to their comfort
About one third Of the men are called
established and have n pension to look for
ward to when advance in life AMI incapa-
| citated-a wise provision, encouraging good
! conduct on the part of the men and render
ing strike in the dockyarl an impossibihty
| The a. eraEe hired man i'll the government
yard, get shi,lings, pence per day, and
the average established man gets shillings
/ So pence; n leading man of shIpwright gets
shiIlings, Ga pence In both public and pri-
/ vatc yards the mon are subject to formidable
| lists of regulations, and in the latter the
rules are particularly stringent. In the
/ private concerns of England the weeks work
is made up of fittv.six hours In France
/ wages are extremely low and the condition
of the workingman is corre,pondingly de-
pressed. In the dockyards laborers get
! about thirty cents per day; black
smiths helpers, thirty-iiye to forty
| five cents second-class shipwright
| A. to 81, and very competent shipwright
may get 50 cents. Average blacksmiths, fit
tiers and turner's get abou; 81 cents. A com
potent smith will get ~. After years of SER
| wee. when looking forward to becoming a
| foreman, he will get 5 per day, but no fore
man gets more than francs or
] SLIGO. After twenty-five years en-
| ployment every workman is entitled to
pension, which Is two-thirds of his
greate,t pay. This pension is what most of
the employees are looking forward to- and it
does much to reconcile them to their rather
! forlon condition In the summer month.
they work from \. NJ. to p. NJ, stopping
| from till SD and from II to go. In win
ter the hours of labor are from 8 A. NJ till 5
| ?. NJ, with a half hour for breakfast and an
| hour for dinner"