In the department of Bouches-du-Rhone, which includes Marseilles, there were registered as employed in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits six months ago five thousand nine hundred and twelve women; eighty were engaged in mining. As to agriculture, it may be said that the wife and daughters of nearly every farmer take a more or less active part in the labor of the fields, though they are not compelled to plow or carry heavy burdens as the women do in some other parts of Europe. There are many female teachers, telegraph operators, musicians, clerks, and saleswomen; and all laundry work, as well as most marketing, is done by women, but they never aspire to become bankers, lecturers, or public speakers.

Their hours of labor are the same as those of men engaged in similar employments, and their wages will average about one-third the prices paid to men, and stated in the foregoing tables. It is proper to state that when men and women are employed in the same establishments the women are always assigned to the lighter and more delicate forms of labor.

In exceptional cases of semi-professional or skilled labor, a woman may receive two thirds of the salary which would be paid to a man for the same hours and kind of labor, but these cases are rare.

No provision is made by employers for the care of sick female employés, but he is responsible for injuries which they may incur, provided it can be shown that the accident causing such injury was due to the nature and conditions of the employment and not to the fault or carelessness of the operative.

There has been no change in the rates of wages paid to women in this department during the past five years, and no increase or decrease in the cost of necessaries of life, except the trifling fluctuations in the prices of marketing which always result from favorable or unfavorable

seasons.

As a rule the women of Southern France are less educated than men in the same walks of life. Since 1882 primary education has been compulsory throughout this country, the conditions being that parents must send to school their children from six to twelve years of age. If they prefer to educate them at home or elsewhere than in the public schools, they must inform the local mayor of their intentions in that respect and the children so taught must pass an examination once a year.

The present French Government is making a heroic effort to establish universal education and to promote by all practicable means the intelligence and welfare of the people. When it is remembered what the primany educational methods of this country were until the present system was adopted, it is impossible not to admire the determined and intelligent spirit with which these radical reforms have been undertaken and the substantial progress that has already been made. FRANK H. MASON,

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Consul.

Marseilles, May, 1884.

*And meals. 10 cents per hour for extra time. 12 cents per hour for extra time.

II. FACTORIES, MILLS, ETC.

Wages paid per week of sixty hours in factories or mills in Marseilles.

III. FOUNDRIES, MACHINE-SHOPS, AND IRON WORKS.

Wages paid per week of sixty hours in foundries, machine-shops, and iron works in Mar

The only iron-blast furnace company in this district absolutely refuses to give any information concerning wages.

IV. GLASS-WORKERS.

Wages paid per week of seventy-two hours to glass-workers in Marseilles.

Wages paid per week of forty-two and sixty hours in and in connection with coal-mines in the district of Marseilles.

Wages paid per week of sixty hours in ship-yards—distinguishing between iron and wood ship-building-in the district of Marseilles.

Apprentices in all the above classes receive one-third of the above wages. For the above statistics the consulate is indebted to the managers of the "Société Anonyme des Forges and Chantiers," à la Seyne (near Toulon), the principal ship-building establishment in France. Wooden ship-building may be considered extinct in this district.

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VIII. SEAMEN'S WAGES.

Wages paid per month to seamen (officers and men)—distinguishing between ocean, coast, and river navigation, and between sail and steam-in the port of Marseilles.

Wages paid per week of forty-eight to seventy-two hours in Marseilles stores, wholesale or retail, to males and females.

Wages paid per month or year to household servants (towns and cities) in Marsseilles.