per week is perhaps a fair average of a laborer's earnings; and with this pittance he is expected to feed and clothe himself and family, and go to church on Sunday in the habiliments of one of Her Majesty's loyal and grateful subjects. I made a haphazard visit to a four-roomed tenement some 4 miles from Cardiff, on the Monmouthshire side, and there saw a picture of deplorable poverty. The man himself had, he said, for merly been a farmer on his own account in another part of the country, but he had been reduced through depression and other causes to his present unfortunate position. He looked pale and thin, very unlike the John Bull of typical celebrity, and there was about him an air of dogged resignation. In answer to my queries he said he was thirty-eight years of age. His employer was personally a very nice man, and he allowed him to live rent free in this old thatched cottage. His wages, upon which he had to support himself, his wife, and four young children, were $3.65 per week, and he had to work very hard. I asked him how he managed to keep and clothe his family upon that sum, to which, by way of answer, he replied with a shrug of his shoulder. His wife took up the point and asseverated emphatically but with sadness that, like a great many others, they did not live; said she, they "lingered." They often had to exist for days on dry bread or rice. As to clothes and boots, they had to "manage as well as they could." 1 afterwards gathered that they derived some assistance in this way from their employer, who was kind enough to let them have some of his cast-off garments. I also suspect that other charitable agencies were called into requisition by these simple, plodding folk. As to the disposition of the weekly income, I gathered that it was as follows: Wed The children old enough to go to school were sent to school irregu larly. Although clean, they were very lightly clad. Fron the infor mation supplied by the wife, I was enabled to formulate a table showing the kind of diet that was enjoyed in this home from week to week: BREAKFAST.-Sunday: Bacon, bread, tea. Monday: Bread and butter, treacle for children. Tuesday: Bread and butter, tea. nesday: Bread, and perhaps remains of bacon. Thursday: Bread and butter, tea. Friday: Same, with coffee. Saturday: Same, with coffee. DINNER.-Sunday: Meat, potatoes, cabbage. Monday: Cold meat, bread and cheese for children. Tuesday: Boiled rice. Wednesday: Boiled potatoes. Thursday: Boiled potatoes. Friday: Same, and rice. Saturday: Bread and butter, rice. TEA.-Sunday: Bread and butter and tea. Monday: Bread and butter and tea. Tuesday: Bread and butter and tea. Wednesday: Bread and butter and cheese. Thursday: Bread and butter and tea. Friday: Same. Saturday: Same. Supper.-Bread and butter. These particulars were of a representative character, and the housewife said it was really pitiful to see her husband faring so badly. He had very little meat, and his system had become impoverished. But, she added, many people had to live even more economically than they did. The price of provisions, as sold by the village shopkeepers, were higher sometimes than those charged by town provision merchants. We are indebted to D. L. Lougher, esq., a gentleman who takes great interest in agriculture, and who is also an extensive mill owner, for much valuable information respecting the agricultural classes. Wayes paid to agricultural laborers and household (country) servants in Glamorganshire, with or without board. Wages paid per week of fifty-four hours in factories or mills in Cardiff, 1884. Occupations. Lowest. Highest. Average. Messrs. Spiller & Co.'s flour and biscuit mills (over three hundred hands For the ordinary workmen referred to in this table the day consists of nine, and the week fifty-four hours. The leading officials are the town clerk, $5,832 per annum, inclusive of clerks; borough treasurer, $3,402; head constable, $2,201, with house. There are also engineers, surveyors, medical officer of health, inspectors of nuisances, superintendent of scavengers, inspectors of works, rate collectors, &c. With reference to the borough police, it may be noted that ordinary constables number 85; acres to each constable, 73. Having regard to the population, as enumerated in 1881, there is only one policeman to every 818 inhabitants. Police superannuation fund.-Capital invested and in hand, $53,259.81; income for the year ending 29th September, 1883, $2,631.87; expendi ture during the same period, $2,002.32. BRICK-MAKING. There are several important yards, and the manufacture of bricks is carried on with considerable activity, there being a great demand in the immediate locality. Among the foremost establishments are those of Messrs. Waring and The Maindy Brick Company. The first-named firm burned out 800,000 bricks in March. The clay is blue lias, principally, and red marl, and red marl rock clay. Fire bricks are not manufactured here to any great extent, but are furnished from Cwmaman, near Aberdare, Llanhissant, and Caerphilly, places within easy reach by rail. The wages of the men employed in the making of bricks vary ac cording to the season. The following is an estimate: Winter. .per week.. $4 38 to $4 86 ....do.... 7 29 8 51 * To exemplify this estimate, it may be mentioned that working from 6 o'clock a.. m. till 5 p. m. per day, and being paid at per 1,000, the aggregate earnings of several batches of men were as follows: Three men, $2478; four men, $38.88; nine men, $729. Conductors, it should be explained, are lads, youths, and young men. This accounts for the seeming disparity in the wages of drivers and conductors. Conductors and drivers are engaged about fourteen hours per day. They start at 8 o'clock or half past 8 in the morning, and they leave off at half past 10 o'clock at night. The interval allowed for dinner is about an hour and a quarter. The remarks generally apply to the tram-car hands; also cars and omnibuses run constantly; the work, therefore, under the present system is very hard. Competition is running mad, and the people are better served than those of any town in the United Kingdom. STORE AND SHOP WAGES. In the drapery trade, it will be perceived by the following table, there is a great difference in the rates of wages. This is due to the difference in the respective capacities of the assistants, some being much more valuable to the employers than others. This is especially the case in reference to shop-walkers and salesmen, who require very often to be men of skill, taste, and experience, but who vary considerably in their business ability. It must also be borne in mind that the employés at the drapery establishments receive board and lodging in addition to the salaries specified. The trade is apparently in a flourishing condition. Among the largest firms is that of Messrs. Howell & Co., drapers, upholsterers, &c., who employ two hundred hands. When Mr. Foster's education act came into operation the profession of teaching attained a degree of importance and afforded employment to a greater number of people than it had ever done before. Under the provisions of the act and where the majority of the inhabitants or rate payers are in favor of the school board, as against denominational schools, board schools have been erected in the various districts. Opposition to the board schools has generally emanated from adherents to the Church of England and the Catholic Church or Church of Rome. Cardiff, however, is a Nonconformist borough. Here the board schools are large, commodious, excellent in design, ventilation, and other appointments, and well attended by the children of the town. Quite a number of denominational or voluntary schools still exist in this community, but I believe, speaking generally, that the salaries paid by the board schools are superior to what is paid by the deuominational schools. The following particulars bearing upon the question of education will be found valuable: The following table shows the rate of wages and other particulars at board schools: Headmasters, $777 per annum, and two-fifths of Government grazt, equal to about Assistant masters, certificated ... Ex-pupil teacher assistants... per annum. Pupil teachers.. per week.. 1 70 Headmistresses, $340.20 per annum, and two-fifths of Government grant, per per annum. ..per week.. 194 2 43 The female attendance officers have been tried as an experiment. They have not answered the expectation of the board, and they are on the point of ceasing their operations. Male officers will only act in uture. |