IX. STORE AND SHOP WAGES.

Wages paid per week of sixty hours in stores (wholesale or retail), to males and females, in Catania consular district.

Wages paid per month to household servants (in towns and cities) in Catania consular dis

trict.

Wages paid per week to agricultural laborers and household (country) servants in Catania consular district, without board.

XII. CORPORATION EMPLOYÉS.

Wages paid per week to the corporation employés in Catania consular district.

Wages paid per month of two hundred and ten hours to employés in Government departments and offices, exclusive of tradesmen and laborers, in Catania consular district.*

*Consular agent of Syracuse reports that customs officers in that city, on the average, get per month from $28.50 to $41.15.

XIV. TRADES AND LABOR-GovernMENT EMPLOY.

Wages paid by the week of sixty hours to the trades and laborers in Government employ in Catania consular district.

Statement showing the wages paid per week of sixty hours to printers (compositors, pressmen, proof-readers, &c.) in Catania consular district.

I have the honor to submit the statistics and observations that follow, which contain the fullest attainable information relating to labor and wages in the Maltese islands. They are in response to the "Labor Circular" dated February 15, 1884, received at this consulate from the Department of State on the 28th of April last. Upon its receipt I began a careful search for such information on the subject as the island afforded, addressing inquiries by letter and in person to those persons from whom I believed the most reliable and trustworthy intelligence could be gotten. In instances where the rates of wages conflicted in two or more reports received from different sources, I made personal investigation and arrived at results, which by verification I know to be unquestionably accurate and reliable. The delay in transmitting these

reports has been unavoidable, owing to the non-receipt of certain important and useful statistics from one of the departments (local) until the present.

I beg further to add, in explanation, that owing to the peculiar and unusual circumstances and conditions which are embraced in the subject of labor and wages in the Maltese islands, I have not been able to follow the exact forms given as guides in the Labor Circular of February 15. I think, however, my reports cover all the ground of your inquiries, and in as succinct a manner as the subject will justly warrant. Values in all cases have been reduced to and given in dollars and cents. I have, at the close of the reports, given credit to every person, firm, and institution that has favored me with assistance and figures, and, excepting in one instance, my requests for statistics and intelligence has been met with a cheerful and willing compliance very gratifying and thankworthy. I have not failed to express my warmest obligations for courteous favors received from the gentlemen named, and I have to request that a few extra copies of this report may be forwarded to me for distribution.

POPULATION.

The population of the Maltese islands-Malta, Gozo, and Cominc-is 150,000, and the area of the three measures 117.361 statute square miles. Malta has a population of 1,443.12 to the square mile, and Gozo and Comino together a population of 1,276.25 to the square mile. Ninetenths of the entire population follow occupations more or less laborious, earning wages and salaries included in the following tables. It is of interest to note that the plethora of population (considering the limited producing capacity of the islands, which is said to be only efficient enough to support one-third of the inhabitants), is increasing at the rate of 1,000 persons a year. (In 1883 the increase was 1,145.)

HABITS OF THE MALTESE WORKING PEOPLE.

The Maltese are, as a whole, of frugal habits, steady and obliging, but without much push or originality. If I might be permitted a pleasantry I should say that the Maltese could hardly be expected to exercise much push in an island less than 60 miles round its coast, where the shores are often precipitous and the water very deep. Dr. J. B. Sammut, of Malta, a native resident, says the workingmen of the island, especially in the interior, are honest. That they are industrious there can be no doubt. In no country do the working classes toil harder or longer. Actual necessity has much, doubtless, to do in this tireless. round of labor from the cradle to the grave, and in no country is the pay for manual work less remunerative. Were it not for the small cost of living and the absence of all taxes, the Maltese laboring man would be the poorest paid and poorest being on earth, other conditions being equal.

Mr. David Robb, chief engineer of the Malta dock yard, writes me concerning the many Maltese in his employ as follows:

With regard to the habits of the working classes in the dock-yard, I have always found them very steady indeed; with the exception of holidays they hardly ever lose time, certainly never from the effects of strong drinks; those of them who can afford it drink the natural wines of the country, but to a very limited extent. They are as a rule very reliable and very grateful for any favors conferred on them or their families. They are also saving when they get a chance, but they marry very young, consequently they have large families to support on small pay, so that they have but little opportunity to accumulate much money. Their food is the simplest kind. Bread is with them the staff of life, and it is wonderful how well it supports them; this, with a little vegetables, fruit, or fish, is their daily food. They can hardly afford meat; when

they do, they generally make soup for the family. To a man they all profess the Roman Catholic faith and are much attached to the church and its office-bearers; the priests have great power over them, and I dare say this will be observed in Malta more so than in any other part of the world. They are a very law-abiding people and exceedingly respectful to their employers at all times. They are very much attached to their children as well as to their island, and although there are many opportunities of gaining a living at higher rates of pay in other parts of the world, they prefer Malta, its small pay and its poverty, to seeking their fortune even in that magnificent and abundant country, the great republic of the United States.

Mr. Geneste, who built the Malta Railway, thus mentions the workingmen:

The Maltese I have always found particularly steady and saving and not at all wasteful. They require a good deal of supervision and to be treated with a firm hand. I have constructed this line with Maltese labor, and I employ Maltese to work it, and I have been satisfied with the result.

Capt. George L. Carr, R. N., superintendent of ports at Malta, who has had considerable experience with the water-side class of Maltese laborers, says:

The laboring classes receive from 36 cents to 48 cents per day, and the cost of living may be stated at 26 cents per day on the average. Laborers as long as they are able to work support their aged parents, &c., spending all their earnings on their families, so there is little or no chance of saving. As a rule they are very hard-working, steady, and sober. The Maltese make very good firemen, and are much sought after by captains of merchant steamers; they prefer them to Europeans on account of their tem perate habits. The Maltese sailor is very much deteriorated since the introduction of steamers.

Mr. John Horn, in whose foundry and machine shop are employed a number of Maltese, speaks of the laborers as follows:

The habits of the working classes are very temperate, frugal, and regular, attend punctually to their employment, are civil and obliging to their employers (especially when they imagine there are any favors to be obtained thereby), but are rather inclined to impertinence where they think there is no occasion for or no gain to be had from civility. On the occasions of certain religious festivals they will not work unless they are urgently required, and then they obtain permission to do so from their clerical masters. They are slovenly in their work, require strict supervision, and seem to be always in a hurry to complete a job; in other words, they have not sufficient patience to work neatly. They seldom try to excel in their work, but are quite satisfied so long as their master does not complain.

Captain Tresidder, a royal engineer, whose ten years' experience in Malta as an employer of Maltese laborers of all classes, gives his statements and opinions great weight and worth, accompanies his list of wages paid a large variety of workingmen with the following remarks:

The rates given vary from the "refuse" to the "pick" of the trades, and under the head of "average" I have put what you might call the "normal" rates. Under the head of "agricultural laborers" I have included all who do work of any kind in the fields and farm-houses. There are no special distinctions, such as carters, plowmen, &c.; these are "laborers. "There are no dairymaids, specially so called; no domestic servants are ever employed in this class of life. With my list of wages paid employés of the civil-engineer department it is to be observed that in Malta and England the same trades are sometimes known by different names, and sometimes the same names express different trades. For instance, in England one who dresses stone is called a mason; in Malta the same man is called a stonecutter; and a mason in Malta is one who sets stones. A miner in England is one who excavates coal and ores; in Malta he is one who excavates rock, and would be known in England as an excavator or quarryman, according to the purpose of his work. In Malta the term carpenter applies to a man who works in wood in almost any way. Painting and glazing is done by the carpenter; whether he prepares timbers for roof-beams or makes tables and furniture, he is still called carpenter. In the same way a smith in Malta does forging, shoeing, vise-work, as locks, &c., plumbing, gas fitting, &c. Of course, in general, a good forge hand would not be the best man for making kettles; but, whether he made crowbars or saucepaus, they would call him "smith." Similarly I have some carpenters I employ only on heavy work, fixing shoring in excavations, preparing centers for arches, &c., and others who make office-desks, drawing-boards, patterns for castir gs, really cabinet-makers. The habits of the men are good.