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"THE MARCH OF TIME."
Wages Sixty Years Ago..
To the Editor.
Sir,-The letter under the above head
ing that you recently published was very
timely in showing the conditions of youth
employment 60 years ago compared with
those of today. TEr the information of
the younger generation I, who went to
work at 13 in 1879, at the tailoring trade
in England, can vouch for the accuracy
of "Ten Point's" statements, as to wages
and hours at that time. I started at
2/ weekly and knew of a case of another
apprentice who, on finishing his work on
Saturday night, was sent round to sell
eggs-the employer keeping the poultry
in order to get enough to pay his wages.
The same thing obtained in Germany.
A first-class tailor once told me he re
ceived scarcely any wages for the first
six months, after his mother had paid
the equivalent of £50 as a premium. But
we were taught well. I came to Aus
tralia alone, at 20 years of age, a good
enough tradesman to save, without un
duly stinting myself, £200 in the first
three years. There was plenty -of em
ployment then and every boy could get
some sbrt of Work, with lots of casual
jobs .to be picked up. My most lucrative
one .was blowing the organ at the village
church at 6d. per hour, coming, alas,
all to seldom. There was then absolute
freedom from interference, or prevention
of employment-no Arbitration Court
to stand between a boy and a job, throw
him upon the street when an .automatic
rise- was due, or prevent parents from
doing their best for their children by
paying a premium to a decent employer
whd would see that they became com
petent tradesmen by the time they came
to man's estate. Small wonder that,
Australia Is the happy hunting ground
for artisans thoroughly taught under
much more free-for-all conditions and
for what we call starvation wages, in
European countries.
I worked at Traylen's corner in 1896
at tailoring, and saw the cellar (base
ment) Where the "Christian Herald." and
the "Temperance Advocate" were printed.
"Ten Point" did not tell us the published
price of these edifying journals--prob
ably one penny, the circulation being, as
he states, very small. So there could
not have been too much profit for the
proprietor, even with the small wages
paid for their production. After all, I
would like to ask "Ten-Point," with all
his self-pity, and "the half-dozen men
and women still on deck who, as young
sters, worked at the City Press in the
early eighties, are they a penny the worse
for it now?--Yours, etc.,
LONG PRIMER.
Perth.
$