The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-08-20
THEsTRAw INDUSTRY OF FLORENCE.
The PIaiters Working in Their Own

The PIaiters Working in Their Own
Homes-Production and Earnings.
This industry is so generally extended
throughout the district that there is
scarcely a family in which some of the
members are not engaged in the work.
Children begin to plat at and years
of age; while mothers of families, in adj
ditiOn to their domestic occupations, and
females of all ages and almost of all con-
ditiOns, who do not follow the business
as a means of livelihood, employ their
leisure time in it. Formely, when the
production was carried on by persons
connected with agricultural labor only,
the work was not constant; but now~ex-
cepting, perhaps, with afew "contadine,"
it goes on all the year round.
The plaiters work in their own homes,
and their busy fingers are rarely at rest.
The large number work up the straw on
their own account, and sell the plaits, or
hats, on the public markets held at Flor
ence and other towns Others receive
the straw from and are paid by the fat
tOrini," class of middlemen who con-
sign the plaits and hats in the rough to
the principal manufacturers who finish
them for export. Others, again, are in
direct communication with the manu-
facturers themselves. The earnings of
the plaiters are subject to considerable
fluctuations, partly depending upon the
market prices that may from time to
time rule for the manufactured article,
and partly according to the higher and
lower rates of the straw. On an average,
the daily earnings of children and young
girls may be taken at from 80 to 45 CEN
centimes. Much depends upon the
ability of the workers and a consider
able number of expert hands can earn
regularly, under ordinary circumstances,
from Ira to 1 Ira 10 confines, and
sometimes as much as 1 Ira so confines,
per deim. At sewing hats "a maglia,"
about rs centimes per diem may be
earned.
Payment is made by the piece. AS re-
CARDS cost of production, three-ffths is
credited to labor and two-fifths to first
material, but this estimate is approx
NATIVE only, as the relative proportion
of value must be subject to considerable
fluctuations depending upon the price of
the straw. The articles chiefly exported
are the Florentine hats and plain and
fancy plaits. The principal countries of
export are France, the United States,
Great Britain, Germany and Austria.
The future prospects of the Tuscan straw
industry are at present by no means en-
couraging, as so many new articles
spring up which are more favored by
fashion. The competition of English
plaits, as far as prices are concerned
Fashion apart, does not much affect the
sale of italian straw products; but that
of the Chinese plaits, in the coarser
qualities, is almost crushing, and to a
very considerable extent now supplies
the various markets of Europe and
America, to the nearly total exclusion Of
the same qualities of Italian plaits as re-
CARDS foreign consumption. These
Chinese plaits are of excellent quality,
well made, strong and serviceable, and
supplied at prices with which it is inn
possible to compete in Italy.-English
COnsul's Official Report.