The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-03-31
ENGLISH TRADE UNIONS IN 1894
 AND 1895.

The eighth report of MT. Burnett, the chief labor correspondent of the Board of Trade, on trade unions, which has just been issued as a blue-bo deals with the years 1894 and 1895, The num- Der of trade unions of which the mem- bership had been ascertained by the labor department was in 1895 l,25O, con taining 1,3S0104 members, compared with S32 unions with 1,25G, ,44S members in 1S9i The causes of this great in crease in the number of societies mak- ing returns are mentioned in the intro ductory section to the report, The in crease in number must not be regarded as indicating a corresponding growth in the number of societies actually in existence, but rather as due to the greater completeness of the returns ob- tained.
 The greater part of the membership of the unions was contained in com
 paratively small number of societies. Out of 1,25O societies in 1895 941 had few CT than 800 members, while nearly half the total membership, G31, ,0H out of H. 330, ,104, belonged to twenty-five socte-
 ties whose membership amounted to 10000 or over The magnitude of tho societies was greatest i'll the mining group and least in the furnishing and
 woodworking group. The compara- tive importance of registered and un- registered societies was shown by the fact that the former were 573 in number with membership of 1,009,6S6, while
 the latter were GIT in number with a
 membership of only 320, AS Compared
 with 1894, the returns of 100 principal societies showed that a net increase of membership took place in the following
 trades: Building metal, engineering and shipbuilding; furnishing and Wood-
 working; food and tobacco prepara-
 ton; glass and leather; and paper
 printing, and bool1binding. On the other hand, the following trades showed 9 net decrease: Mining and
 quarrying; the textile trades; clothing
 and general labor, The increase was
 in the more highly skilled trades, and
 the decline in the unskilled and semi
 skilled trades and in the great piece
 work factory industries
 The total income of 100 principal soci- cites in 1895 was G1,559,705, against &l,- G24, ,332 in 1894; the total expenditure
 G1 400, 336, against e1 436,S92; and the total funds at the end of the year e1,- 7O6.5 BY, against G1 1551 093 The income per head works out at e1 14s. Id, against e1 15s. 01ad,, and the funds at e1 17s. sgd. against G1 13s. 6&d. It appears that both the Income and eX- penditure per head were less in 1895 than in 1894. The funds In hand were at their lowest point in 1893, and since that time the amount per head has
 gradually increased The balance of funds in hand increased during 1895 in every group of trades except the cloth ing trades, in which it was largely re- duced by the boot-and shoetra dis pute, which also accounts for the large increase in expenditure in this group of i industries. Out of the total eXpendi- ture of se1, 4o033 in 1895, e435996 was devoted to unemployed benefit" et90,- 352 to dispute benefit" and e237 ,S01 to sick benefit" while working eX- penses" absorbed e256,19S The falling
 off in total expenditure, as compared
 with 1894. was largely accounted for by the decrease under the head of unem- ployed benefit" on which, doubtless owing to the improved state of employ ment," there was a decrease of e25965. ! In 1894 the number of unions. or i branches was 895, with a membership i of 1,009 343 The bulk of the member ship in both years of the affiliated un- ions was in the mining. textile. ship building and metal groups, though
 building trades accounted for the ! largest number of federations. The in
 crease in membership in 1895 was large ! ly accounted for by the inclusion of one
 federation of trade councils in the Mid 1 lands embracing twelve trade councils with unions containing S1 137 members
 affiliated to 1t. This federation was 1 formed in May, 1894, but no return was i obtained from it for 1894. During 1895 eleven new federations are known to have been formed, with l3,017 members
 and lip" laughed Roscoe, unconscious
 that he was quoting the very eXpres- sion his rival had used. But the slip | was not ours this time, darlng-and so
 we will forgive him. ''--Dublin World