Weavers and winders suffer from increased speed as much as the card- and spinning-room workers. Attention has been drawn to the spirit of competition which managers and overlookers encourage between weaver and weaver. Boys and girls, men and women, are indirectly set to emulate each other. Some witnesses believe that women and girls work at higher pressure than men and boys, and since the former invariably have domestic work when the factory day is over, the strain is considerably increased. At the present time girls are given responsible work before they are equal for it. Teachers frequently find half-time scholars, who have not been at the mill more than a couple of months, announcing that they were working "for sick," that is, minding the looms for a weaver who is away ill. Such girls will get two looms of their own before they are on full time, and at 14 they have four looms under their charge. It was no uncommon thing in north-east Lancashire to find that girls have been working their mother's four looms for some months while the mothers are minding the soldier father's six looms. In some cases girls of 16 have six looms, and Sick Visitors report that cases of heart trouble, anaemia, and general weakness are most common at the present time amongst these girls; "the possible lasting effects of this severe strain are terrible to contemplate." The Sick Visitors of another Union say that the falling-off in health which is marked in adolescent workers, shows itself most when the girl is put on to three looms. Even in normal times girls mind three looms at 16, and the strain is considerable. These witnesses believe that the average girl should not be in charge of three looms until she is 18, and that 21 is soon enough for four looms. In this connection the evidence of one large mill where the quality of the weaving is above the average is particularly instructive. The manager reported that the standard of health was extremely satisfactory, and he pointed out that girls are not allowed to take three or four looms until they are strong and capable enough to manage them, and he had found by experience that it is seldom advisable to put them on the full number of looms until 17 or 18. RECOMMENDATIONS