128 BRUNSWICK., 
tins in which the vegetables are packed after being cooked are^made in local 
factories which employ several hundreds of men. 
The manufacture of beet sugar is likewise an industry in which the duchy 
as well as the town of Brunswick is interested. The total number of factories 
in the whole duchy is 35 and the workpeople employed number over 4,000, 
while in the town of Brunswick there are live concerns with nearly 800 
employees, most of them men. Except in the case of the refineries, this, too, 
is a seasonal industry, commencing in September as soon as the beet crop is 
ready and lasting until about the end of December. Between seasons the 
unskilled labourers find employment in the brickfields, or in the building 
trade. 
The brewing of beer is also carried on extensively, and in 1905 a wages 
agreement affecting all the classes of workmen engaged in the breweries was 
signed by five local companies and one private firm. The textile industry is 
represented by one large jute spinning factory employing over 1,800 hands, 
two-thirds of whom are women and girls. In addition there are a number of 
small establishments for the manufacture of chemicals, of soap and oil, of paper 
goods, brushes, and cigars, employing altogether about 850 workpeople. 
One striking feature of the industrial life of Brunswick is the large amount 
of female labour which is employed. Of a total of 18,557 adult workers in 
establishments which come under the factory regulations, 5,493 or 29 per cent, 
are females. The majority of these find employment in the canning industry 
and in the spinning of jute, the former with 2,256 and the latter with 1,161. 
The clothing trade also employs 879 women besides 273 girls, whilst the 
remainder are mainly engaged in the manufacture of paper goods and cigars, 
and in several branches of metal working, such as the making of tins for 
the canning factories, work in which the principle of division of labour is 
carried to a high degree, so that the management of certain machines can be 
well entrusted to women. A large number of women are also engaged in their 
own homes in connection with the jute spinning and canning industries, making 
sacks of the woven jute in the one case, and preparing the vegetables for the 
preliminary process of boiling in the other. The former by working 10 hours 
can sew 120 sacks daily on an average, for which, after deducting the price of 
the sewing yam, they earn Is. 10d., whereas the latter, according to a report 
issued by the Factory Workers’ Union, are able to earn from 9s. to 18s. per 
week, the higher rates being probably earned where other members of the 
family assist in the work. 
During the canning season enormous consignments of vegetables pour into 
Brunswick by rail, and in order to dispose of them whilst they are fresh, long 
hours are worked in the factories, and, in addition, employers are compelled to 
engage out-workers, who carry the vegetables to and from the factories in 
baskets on their backs. An investigation conducted by the Factory Workers’ 
Union in 1905, into the condition of the workers in this industry, brought a 
number of abuses to light. According to the published report of this inquiry, 
women and girls were frequently compelled to work more than 13 hours a day 
—the maximum number allowed by law in this industry, except on Saturday, 
when -work must cease at 5.30 p.m.—and in some cases even 18 hours 
Were spent in one day in the factory. As a result of this exposure the Govern 
ment notified the local Chamber of Commerce that the police would be 
instructed to see that in future all infringements of the law in this respect were 
promptly punished. The report further complained that these long hours were 
spent in rooms the atmosphere of which was excessively warm and heavily 
charged with moisture, and also that the remuneration for such work was very 
inadequate, as the wages paid to females usually ranged from 1 \d. to 2\d. per 
hour, and rarely amounted to 2f<A The inquiry also elicited the fact that even 
on Sundays work was sometimes carried on for 10 and more hours. The 
earnings of home-workers were found to be less than those paid in the factories, 
and consequently the children were employed in the evenings. 
The distribution of the industrial population of Brunswick amongst the 
various trades and industries in 1906 is shown in the following table :—