"'You think there could not be much increase of your previous labour, whatever agreement might have been made upon the subject?' 'No, there could have been no increase made to that; it was too long for that.' "'Were the hands chastised up to their labour in that mill?' 'Yes.' "'That was the practice there also?' 'Yes.' "'Do you mean to state that you were treated with great cruelty at the age of 16, and that you still remain in the mill?' 'I was not beaten so severely as I was in Fifeshire.' "'You were not so beaten as to induce you to leave that mill?' 'If I had left it, I did not know where to go.' "'Did you try to get into any other occupation?' 'Yes, I went apprentice to a flax-dresser at that time.' "'What was the reason that you did not keep at it?' 'My hand was so disabled, that it was found I was not able to follow that business.' "'You found you could not get your bread at that business?' 'Yes.' "'Consequently, you were obliged to go back to the mills?' 'Yes.' "'Was it the custom, when you were 16 years of age, for the overseer to beat you?' 'Yes, the boys were often beaten very severely in the mill.' "'At this time you were hired for wages; how much had you?' 'Half-a-crown a week.' "'And your maintenance?' 'No, I maintained myself.' "'Is not that much lower than the wages now given to people of sixteen years of age?' 'I have a boy about sixteen that has 4_s._ 6_d._ a week, but he is in a high situation; he is oiler of the machinery.' "'Besides, you have been injured in your hand by the accident to which you have alluded, and that probably might have interfered with the amount of your wages?' 'Yes.' "'What duty had you in the mill at this time, for the performance of which you received 2_s._ 6_d._ a week, when you were at Duff, Taylor & Co.'s?' 'I was a card-feeder.' "'Did your hand prevent you working at that time as well as other boys of the same age, in feeding the cards?' 'Yes, on the old system; I was not able to feed with a stick at that time; it is done away with now.' "'How long did you stay there?' 'About fifteen months.' "'How many hours did you work there?' 'Fourteen.' "'Do you mean that you worked fourteen hours actual labour?' 'Yes.' "'Was it a water-mill?' 'Yes.' "'Were you ever short of water?' 'We had plenty of water.' "'How long did you stop for dinner?' 'Half an hour.' "'What time had you for breakfast, or for refreshment in the afternoon?' 'We had no time for that.' "'Did you eat your breakfast and dinner in the mill then?' 'No, we went to the victualling house.' "'Was that some building attached to the mill?' 'Yes, at a a small distance from the mill.'