THE TAILORING TRADE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3998, 3 August 1915, Page 7

THE TAILORING TRADE.

A RAPIDLY-DECLINING INDUSTRY. EVIDENCE OF PRESIDENT OF OH RISTCH UR CH MASTER TAILORS’ ASSOCIATION. AN ILLUMINATING STATEMENT. That the cross-legged tailor may soon be as extinct as the dodo was foreshadowed by the evidence produced in tho tailors’ dispute before tho Arbitration Court at Gisborne yesterday. in bis evidence before the Court, Mr Francis Hobbs, President of tlie Christchurch Tailors’ Association, in giving a reason for this view, stated that it was the old story of tho triumph of machinery over hand-made goods. in a comprehensive statement, Mr Hobbs had the following to say:In.'the memorandum of tho award His Honor Judge Stringer, states: "The wages have been increased so as to bring them into something like conformity with the other skilled trades.” The principle of equality of earnings for skilled workers is here admitted, as is also the inference tnat there is nothing in the conditions of the work which, calls for exceptionally high pay. This being so it is evident that tho increase in the hourly pay to pieceworkers from Ls to 1 IRI must have been made by the Court under an entire misapprehension. This would probably arise from one or two causes, namely :■— j 1. Failure of the employers to show i that the wage already in force was I in conformity with that of oilier j skilled trades. |

2. A lack of knowledge on the part of the court that the rate of Is per hour attached to tho time statement is merely a nominal rate l'or purposes of simple calculation and that it does not represent the actual hourly amount earned under the time statement.

Taking now the first of these two causo-s:

Attached hereto is a list of 49 skilled trades. It shows the average annual earnings of adult male workers in the Auckland district. It is taken from the Census returns in 1911, the only difference being that I have extended it from tljo weekly average earnings as shown in the Census to the annual average earnings.

1. The list shows that the average annua! earnings in 49 skilled trades was £l2O 12s, while that of tailors under the award then existing was for general hands £137, and for coatmakers £127. 2. That tailors already earn in excess of the average wage: General hands 3 3 per cent., coatmakers 5 per cent.

3. That out of 49 skilled trades only two earn more than tailors’ general hands, and only nine earn more than coatmakers.

4. That 315 skilled trades. earn less than the lowest grade of tailors. 5. That the increase from Is to Is : ltd. equals 121 per cent. This added to the 5 per cent and .13 per cent j above shown would raise coatmakers j earnings li.V per cent and tailors j general hand's 251 per cent above the j average earnings of skilled workers. The increase given in the last .'Seek- | land award placed tailors’ general j hands £5 ahead of any other worker on the list, and coathands practically i equal with the second. i Dealing now with the second prob- j able cause of the increase in the ■ Auckland award namely a misunder- • standing of the fact that the Ls per j hour is a nominal rate and does not ; represent the actual earning rate per . hour. . 1 1. In the scientific construction of j a log, or time statement the first necessity is to fix a nominal /ate per hour which can be easily divided anil j paid to by some recognised coin of the j realm. 'Thus for men Is, and for , women Bd, are rates usually adopted in New Zealand. The reasons for fixing sucli a rate is that the time statement, contains about 800 items, which are paid for on a time a.llouanee of either or or an hour. Alls or Sd this is easily done. At Js ; 1 id or 9d it is absolutely impossinic ] to do so became then' vs no coinage to (To it with, as the following example ; will show:--hour at ls ltd per hour j 10id ; J- hour at Is IRI per hour. ORl: ; j hour "at Is ljd per hour. JRI ; f bour j at Is l td per hour, 1 11-.lod. j As a further example oi the nupos- j sibilitv of such a rate as ls Ltd. e n : page 329 of the Labor Department official publication of the New . Zealand Award will be found the list oi deductions to bo made for portions o garments sewn bv machine instead <> by hand. Take the first class entitled Sac Coats, etc., there are 28 items specified under this heading and every one involves some fractional parta pemiv, ranging from j, 11-10, u to -i‘ It will be at once apparent that a competent accountant would be required to calculate the wage rate for any garment. It has, however, to be done l>v the worker and the cutter and hopeless confusion must be the result. ■ . , 2. Having fixed a .nominal rate which is easily divisible and which can be paid by current coinage, the next necessity in forming a time statement is to give to each item an allowance of time sufficiently in excess ol thatactually worked, to balance the difference between tho nominal rate ol Is per hour and the recognised rate lor skilled workers. As an' example: '['ho sac coat of every day wear as made by the hotter class linns takes an average man about 181 hours to make and is paid for as 23 hours at Is- £1 3s. The price paid and hours worked varying, of course, according to the material used and the. ‘-extras, included in. the garment. The increase given in Auckland is - 1 vital blow to a rapidly declining industry. The extra, wage cannot be passed on to the consumer .because ° tho competition of greatly improved ready made factory clothes ‘ho whole tendency of the tneivs clothing trade is towards these high grade ready-to-wear clothes. The was developed in the United Mute, where probably 80 per cent of the people, wear the ready-made store clothes, and it is spreading everywhere. - Hero it has absorbed the overcoat and holiday wear suits idmost entirely. It luvs a . good on business clothes and is entering that of evening wear. Ready-made dress suits are on sale ill. many places so well made that only experts can detect the difference between them and those made by leading huloung The proof of the define in the tailoring trade can be gathered Irom the Government official publication. Taking Christchurch as an example, the Year Book shows that the population of the city and suburbs increased between the 'year 1909-1913, irom (>7,878 to 84,011, being a total increase of 10,133, or 2.31 P ol ' cent. . The. annual reports ol: the Label Department show that during the same period of 1906-1913, the tailors employed in Christcliurch and subuios decreased from 248 to 221, a total loss of 27, equal to 10* per cent. 11 the trade had held its own there should have boon an increase of tailors m ratio with the increase of population and tie number of tailors employed, snniru- now be 309. Deducting the number actually omployed from Lns it shows a shortage of 86 men, equal to 35 per cent. . To put the' position another way. Although the population has increased by about 25 per cent, it is proved by the number of tailors employed that thero is actually over 10 per cent, loss tailoring done than there was seven years ago. i Again : In 1906 1 tailor was employed to every 273 of the population', in. 1913 1 tailor was employed to every ,380 of the population. ' Tlie.effect of tho increase of wage if passed on to the customer will further reduce the trade and nullify the less work. If the inereaso is not passed on to the customers it will so reduce tho' already; small profit that

firms will l>e forced, cither out of busi- . lie f* or into the Bankruptcy Court. 1 There were 85 master -tailors in ‘ Christchurch cited before the Court ‘ when the last award was given in July, 1912. In less than three years since that date 24 of these, equal to : per cent., have gone out of busi- ’ ness. Bankruptcy, assignment to creditors, taking cutters billets, closing down because not paying are the only causes I can ascertain. This is surely strong evidence that the condition of the trade will not stand further increases. Another point is that the war has caused a big advance in the price of woollen goods. Samples are now before us for selection for next winter’s stock, and they show an advance varying from 15 to 25 per cent, on the invoice price. When to this is added the duty on the increase it will mean an advance of another 5 per cent. This will work out at an increase of about 10s for material in each suit.