The Vagrancy Problem.: The Case for Measures of Restraint for Tramps, Loafers, and Unemployables: With a Study of Continental Detention Colonies and Labour HousesDawson, William Harbutt
History
The Vagrancy Problem.: The Case for Measures of Restraint for Tramps, Loafers, and Unemployables: With a Study of Continental Detention Colonies and Labour Houses
Dawson, William Harbutt
Poor laws; Poor laws -- Great Britain; Tramps; Unemployed
The baking alone is a very serious task, for a thousand mouths have
to be fed every day, since the two large ovens provide, not only for
the Labour House itself, but for two other large public institutions
situated not far away. In the weaving shop there are fourteen
hand-looms for linen, the yarn for which is bought. The work done by
the carpenters is various and thoroughly creditable. Furniture in
request for provincial institutions is chiefly made, such as tables,
benches, chests, chairs, toilette tables, and the like, and some of
the work I saw would compare with the best products of free labour.
"We have just sent out an account for £2,000 worth of goods," said
the labour master with pride. The business of cigar making is not,
like the other departments, carried on by the Labour House on its
own account. The plan adopted is for labour to be farmed to tobacco
manufacturers, who send the raw material with a skilled overseer
to direct the various processes of preparation. The administration
undertakes no responsibility for the quality of the work done, or for
the material spoiled, though, on the other hand, the wages charged to
the manufacturer are very low, _viz._, 75 pfennige or 9d. per day. The
various employments detailed in a recent official report included
locksmithry, joinery and carpentry, basket and chair making, tinning,
mason's work, roofing, painting and plastering, weaving and spooling,
tailoring, boot and shoe making, saddlery, hair sorting, book-binding,
cigar making, machine turning, repairs to tools and implements,
copying, manifolding, baking, butchery, knitting, sewing, laundry work,
farm and field work, and road making. The weaving department produced
45,547 metres of stuff, the tailoring department produced 158 complete
suits and 2,890 single garments, the sewing department 5,099 bed
coverlets, towels, shirts, aprons, handkerchiefs, neckerchiefs, etc.;
the shoe making department 748 pairs of shoes, the carpentry department
1,319 articles of furniture, and so forth. The total value of the goods
produced and of the labour farmed during the year was £6,164, which
more than covered the cost of food and clothing.
Formerly the Labour House had its own farm, but this was separated
some years ago, and it has since been conducted as an independent
undertaking, though still by the aid of forced labour. Men are lent
to the farm manager as required, at the rate of 60 pfennige or 7d. a
day of ten or twelve hours, according to the season, and some forty or
fifty are always employed in one way or other on the land. The Labour
House buys its rye for bread, its milk, its butter, and its potatoes
from the farm management at the full market prices, though, on the
other hand, it sells to the farm all the implements of iron and wood
which it is capable of supplying, and also makes its repairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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