KÖNIGSHÜTTE.
291
Comparing the wages shown in this table with those at Berlin and representing
the latter by 100, the Königshütte figures are represented by 65 for
skilled men and 58 for unskilled men in the building trades, and by 8t as regards
the printing trades.
The coal-mines worked within the municipal area of Königshütte are
owned by the State, but the conditions of labour are similar in every respect to
those obtaining in the same industry throughout the Upper Silesian industrial
district. The following particulars, based on the data as to wages and hours of
labour in the whole of the Upper Silesian coal-mines, published by the Prussian
Government, may therefore be taken as applicable to the coal-mines worked in
Königshütte itself.
The average earnings per shift of the principal catagories of adult male
workers in and about the coal-mines of Upper Silesia in 1905 were as follows
Average Earnings
per Shift.
4s. 4 d.
2s. 9c?.
3s. 3c?.
2s. 8c?.
Hewers
Putters and trammers .
Other underground men
Surface men
These figures represent the net earnings, after allowing for deductions in
respect of insurance against sickness, old age and infirmity and in respect of
blasting materials, lamp oil and tools. The insurance contributions, though
compulsory, are for the men’s own advantage and should therefore be added to
the earnings shown above. An addition should also be made in respect of
certain advantages enjoyed by the men in the shape of free housing, coal
allotments, &c. The insurance contributions amounted on the average to
98‘4 pfennige (say Is.) per week of six shifts in 1905, while the benefits in
respect of housing, coals, &c., are estimated to have been worth an additional
7d. per week on the average. The average earnings (including all allowances)
of coal-miners in Königshütte for a full week of six shifts may therefore
be reckoned to have been as follows in 1905
Hewers ...
Putters and trammers ...
Other underground men
Surface men
Average Earnings
in a full Week.
27s. Id.
18s. Id.
21s. Id.
17 s. 7c?.
The average number of hours worked in a full week of six shifts in 1905
by the Upper Silesian Goal-miners was :—
For hewers and trammers ... ... ... 59 hours.
other underground workers
surface-men
61
68
These figures include intervals for meals, but, in the case of the underground
workers, are exclusive of the time occupied in descent and ascent*
With regard to the iron and steel making and engineering trades the
following Table gives some indication of the level of wages prevailing at
October,°1905, at the works of some of the leading concerns in and around
Königshütte. The data on which the Table is based have been extracted from
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