In most weaving sheds--cotton and worsted--the weavers' work is to fetch the tins of weft, keep the shuttles full, repair broken threads, and carry the finished pieces or cuts to the warehouse. The actual process of weaving does not involve any heavy work, and fetching the cops of weft is only fatiguing when heavy tins have to be brought from the cellars, which is not usual. But the dangerous element in the work is the occasional necessity of altering the weights, which are placed by the overlooker on levers at the back of the loom, to maintain the required tension of the warp. Many witnesses, Trade Union officials, doctors, overlookers, employers, and technical schoolmasters bore testimony to the risk of internal strain and hernia which attends the manipulation of these weighted levers. A broad loom for the manufacture of cotton sheetings or worsted cloths may have two or three 56-lb. weights on both levers, while for lighter fabrics two 32-lb. weights on each side are quite common. In most sheds the space between the looms is so restricted that the weavers have to move the weights in the position of maximum disadvantage. As a matter of fact the actual number of cases of rupture and other injuries is very small. Many witnesses said it was a cause of perennial amazement to them that this should be so, but some Sick Visitors and Trade Union secretaries said that not all the cases came to their official notice, as girls are often too reticent to claim compensation for internal injuries. Other witnesses recorded their conviction that the effect of the risk was seen better in the gradual strain and the deterioration in health than in the few cases where actual injury results. It must be remarked here that men weavers are often willing to help women and girls with this lifting of the weights, but as a general rule the girls are too independent to ask for the help, and the competition and speeding up are so intense that they will not take up the time of a fellow-weaver. There are a number of patent weighting motions on the market whose object is to dispense with heavy weights, a 9-lb. weight being sufficient for any ordinary warp, so that a young person can roll back the yarn on the beam after unweaving or pulling back equally with the strongest man. Many witnesses considered that legislation ought to be introduced making such contrivances compulsory, and it is interesting to note that some employers who had tried these patents on a few looms intend to introduce them altogether when the war is over, and some have found that by selling the old weights they have been able to install patent weighting motions at a very small cost per loom.