Some processes also of lacemaking and of cotton spinning are facilitated by damp heat, and it can hardly be doubted that, but for the constant vigilance, both of the organised workers and of the inspectors, there would be still, as there were before the law intervened, many working places in which such processes would be carried on without proper ventilation or proper precautions for the health of the workers. Many people now living have seen women and girls come out of a weaving shed that has been kept full of steam, their clothes wet through and presently frozen stiff upon them as they walked home through the cold air. The plan of reducing wages by fines and deductions is one dear to the low type of employer; and as long as workers remain ill paid and desperately afraid of being out of work, the evil will probably persist to some extent, in spite of increasingly stringent Truck Acts. There are many factories and work-rooms in which silence is more or less rigidly enforced, and fines are inflicted for talking or laughing. In many, again, some part of the material used is charged to the worker. I had in my hands, some years ago, 14 or 15 wage books belonging to skilled machinists employed in a provincial stay factory and paid by the piece. The following are the figures of 3 books for 3 successive weeks. _A_ represents the highest, and _C_ the lowest sums received. _A._ Nominal wage 9/8½ 8/– 10/2½ Deductions 1/4 9½ 1/6 Wage received 8/4½ 7/2½ 8/8½ _B._ Nominal wage 9/2½ 8/6 8/4 Deductions 2/2 1/7 1/11 Wage received 7/8½ 6/11 6/5 _C._ Nominal wage 5/3½ 5/3 5/5 Deductions 1/4 1/9 1/9 Wage received 3/11 1/5 3/8