REMSCHEID. 
419 
Wages returns were obtained from about thirty leading firms engaged in 
various branches of the Remscheid industry. The variety of conditions and the 
differences in the work done by the same classes of workmen are naturally very 
considerable, and consequently there is a wide range of earnings. 
In the engineering trade the usual range of wages for skilled men is from 
305. to 365. per week, though some of the moulders exceed the latter earnings, 
while unskilled men earn from 225. to 205. In the steel works and rolling 
mills, in which piece-work predominates, the range is naturally wide, first 
smelters earning 345. 7d. for 63 hours’ work, rollers 34s. 9d., and hammer 
smiths 45s. 8cf., both for 60 hours’ work, while labourers earn from 25s. 6(7. to 
28s. 6d. for the same hours. 
In the small iron industry there is equal diversity, though on a lower level 
of earnings. The usual rates for fitters are from 24s. to 80s., slniths’ wages are 
offener above than below 30s., grinders earn from 30s. to 36s., and file cutters 
and rasp cutters, working with machinery, earn in the majority of cases from 
24s. to 27s., though special workmen, working by hand, largely exceed the 
higher figure. 
In domestic industry the hours worked are much longer, and the wages 
much lower than in the factories. The secretary of a trade union stated that 
the file or rasp cutter, working 72 hours a week, and with the assistance of wife 
and children in minor processes and to carry the work backwards and forwards, 
can earn from 24s. to 27s., but if working alone the maximum earnings do not 
exceed 20s. As a fact the taxation authorities assume 24s. per week to be the 
earnings of men engaged on small or very large files, but in arriving at the 
taxation assessment from 5 to 7 per cent, is allowed off the gross earnings for 
rent, lead, tools, &c. 
Coming to the miscellaneous trades common to all towns, it is to be noted 
that wages agreements have been concluded in the principal building trades, yet 
not in all, for this mode of regulating the conditions of employment has not 
been readily accepted by the employers. It is noteworthy that carpenters have 
a somewhat higher hourly rate than bricklayers and masons, viz., 50 pfennige 
(6(7.) against 49 pfennige. Twenty years ago the hourly rate of carpenters’ 
wages was 3ft7., and it has advanced successively to 4(7. (1890), 4|(7. (1895), 
4f(7. (1900), 5|(7. (1904), and 6(7. (1905). The carpenters’ agreement stipulates 
that elderly men and single men in their first year of journeymanship shall not 
be paid a rate lower than the standard by more than ¿(7. 
In the brewing trade 8| pints of beer are given daily as a perquisite, but it 
may not be renounced in favour of a money payment. 
Wages and Hours of Labour in the Principal Occupations, October, 1905. 
Building Trades* :— 
Bricklayers and Masons 
Carpenters 
Joiners and Cabinetmakers 
Plumbers and Fitters ... 
Painters... 
Stucco-workers... 
Labourers 
Engineer ing Trades :— 
Moulders 
-Temper 
Steel 
Hand 
Machine 
Fitters ... 
Turners ... 
Smiths ... 
Pattern-makers 
Labourers 
Weekly Wages. 
Weekly Hours 
of Labour. 
28*. 11(7. 
29s. 6(7. 
24s. 6(7. to 27s. 
27s. to 30s. 
29s. 8(7. 
33s. to 34s. 10(7. 
21 s. 10(7. 
32s. 11(7. 
38s. 4(7. 
43s. 6(7. 
31s. 10(7. 
30s. to 34s. 
33s. „ 37s. 
32s. 8(7. to 36s. 
29s. 5(7. „ 31s. 
22s. to 25s. 
59 
59 
57 to 60 
60 
66 
57 
59 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
The wa^es and hours of labour stated for the building trades are for a full week 
in summer. 
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