But since prolonged hours of labour are in fact but a form of diminished wages, the law has, as it were despite itself, led to a real, and often also to a nominal, rise of wages. The way in which this comes about was exemplified with singular completeness in a case that occurred some years ago in London. The managers of a girl’s club, enquiring into the non-attendance of a certain member of the club, learned that her employer was giving every day to her and to her fellow workers a considerable number of articles to be made at home after the closing of the work room and to be brought in next morning. In order to complete this task, she was often, she declared, obliged to work till two in the morning. The articles were accessories of dress, and were paid for, by the dozen, at such a rate that the girls (there were seven of them) earned each about seven shillings a week, or about 1s. 2d. a day for a working day of from 14 to 16 hours. The ladies of the club reported the case to the Women’s Industrial Council, the members of which knew—as the girls did not—that the Factory Act forbade such employment at home after a working day on the employer’s premises. Now this, it will be seen, was just the kind of case in which, to people who have but little industrial experience, the interference of the law seems harsh, and its strict enforcement disastrous. If, working 14 to 16 hours a day, these poor girls earned but 1s. 2d., how cruel to let them work but 10 hours, and so earn but ninepence or tenpence! The Women’s Industrial Council, however, ruthlessly reported the facts to the Factory inspectors; and one evening, shortly afterwards, a lady inspector appeared at the workshop door just as the girls were leaving. Each girl carried a parcel. The inspector enquired the contents, and on learning them, turned the girls back and made each leave behind her the work which should have occupied her until after midnight. She herself interviewed the employer and no doubt expounded to him the provisions of the Act. Next morning—or possibly a day or two later—this ingenious gentleman presented to his employees a statement for their signature which declared that they carried home work to be done, not by themselves but by their relatives. They all signed; girls who work part of the night as well as all day and who receive but seven shillings a week are not persons likely to have spirit for much resistance. But they told the club leaders, and the club leaders told the Women’s Industrial Council, and the Industrial Council hastened to tell the Factory inspectors. Again the lady inspector appeared and met the girls coming out with parcels. Again she bade them return the work, and again she went in and saw their employer. What she said to him can only be surmised; for neither Factory inspectors nor employers report these things to the outer world. Whatever it may have been, it was effectual. No more work was given out to be carried home and the girls were thenceforward able