TRADE UNIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The Seventh Annual Report of the Labor Department of the British Board of Trade, on the subject of trade unions, covering 284 pages, gives valuable and exhaustive information relative to that class of organizations in Great Britain and Ireland for the year 1893. The nature and extent of the information supplied by this report are described as follows: The trade unions of the kingdom may, broadly speaking, be regarded in two aspects. They are, in the first place, organizations having for chief object the protection of the industrial interests of their members, and, in the second place, many of them are provident societies, arranging for the support of their members in cases of sickness, old age, or other contingencies incidental to the life of workmen. Under whichever aspect they are viewed, they form a most important feature in the social life of the kingdom, and it is, therefore, eminently desirable that record should be made of both classes of their operations. In the present report, therefore, information is given with regard to all the chief points of interest in connection with both the trade and provident working of these unions. The report deals alike with registered and nonregistered unions, but distinguishes the one from the other, and detailed information concerning them is given in the appendices, of which there are five, occupying 277 of the 284 pages of the report. The first appendix, covering 109 pages, consists of a table showing, in detail, the number and names of trade unions, the number of branches of such unions, the number and percentage of members receiving certain benefits provided by each union during 1893, the amount of funds on hand at the end of 1892, the amount and analysis of annual income and expenditure, and the amount of funds on hand at the end of 1893. The information is given for each union separately, and the unions are classified according to industries. The second appendix, covering 110 pages, contains three tables, the first of which shows the number of members belonging to the same unions dealt with in Appendix I at the end of each of the different years from 1870 to 1893, inclusive; the second table shows the contributions, per member, of the same unions during each of the years covered by the first table; the third table shows the amount paid, per member, of certain specified trade unions for unemployed, sick, and superannuation benefits in various years prior to and including 1893. The third appendix consists of a directory giving the names and addresses of the secretaries of the unions, concerning which data are given in the preceding appendices, and the fourth appendix gives sta 1 istics in relation to disablement and mortality among members of trade anions. In order that the position of the unions may, to some extent, be presented from their own point of view, extracts have been made from the general addresses of the chief officers of some of the principal unions o their members, through their annual or periodical reports, relative o their operations and progress, financial and otherwise. These extracts constitute the fifth appendix, which closes the report. For the purposes of this report returns were obtained from 687 trade Of these, 513 were registered under the trade union act, and 174 were not so registered-an increase of 31 registered and 57 unregstered societies as compared with the number reporting in 1892. Ninetyseven of the unions concerning which information is published had ocal sections or branches to the number of 6,879, at the end of 1893. In addition to the unions from which returns were secured, the Labor Department had knowledge of the existence of 118 other unregistered unions at the end of 1893, concerning which no information was obtainable beyond the fact that their total membership amounted to 90,660; there were also 41 other such unions of which information concerning the membership could not be secured. The following summary shows the total number of members, amount of annual income and expenditure, and balance of funds of all unions for which accounts for 1893 were obtained: Number of unions for which accounts were received... Total funds of 662 unions in hand at beginning of 1893. Total expenditures of 687 unions for the year. 687 1, 270, 789 $9,258, 015 9,718, 259 10,932, 665 8,044, 655 The discrepancy of $1,046 in the above summary is explained by the statement that two unions, which did not report the amount of their funds at the beginning and end of the year, had an excess of expendi tures over income to that amount. Detailed particulars as to the chief items of expenditure were furnished by 682 unions, and are shown in the following statement: EXPENDITURES, ETC., OF 682 TRADE UNIONS, 1893. The discrepancy between the total number of unions making the different expenditures, as shown in the preceding statement, and the total number reporting in reference thereto is explained by the fact that only a limited number of the unions make payments for all the purposes set forth; and there may have been some unions liable to make certain of the payments which may not have been called on to make such payments during the year. For the purpose of comparing 1893 with 1892, as regards membership and financial operations of trade unions, the returns of 534 trade unions which supplied details for the two years are available, and the figures are presented in the following table: MEMBERSHIP AND FINANCIAL OPERATIONS OF 534 TRADE UNIONS, 1892 AND 1893. a The figures given here do not quite balance. There is a discrepancy of $21,466, which is due to the fact that 24 unions showed $40,567 less funds at the beginning of 1893 than they reported at the end of the previous year, while 44 unions showed $19,101 more. In regard to the falling off in membership shown in the preceding table, it is said: Many of the societies represented have, of course, largely increased their number of members during the year, but the above figures show the net change in the total membership of all the unions. The classes of trade unions most affected by this diminution in aggregate numbers are those which represent the less skilled branches of industry. Indeed, those which suffered most heavily from this falling away of numbers were the unions of unskilled labor. Fourteen unions of men engaged in transport and other branches of such labor show a decrease of 37,000 on the year. In the mining and quarrying group of trades, eight of the unions show a loss of 8,000 members. Notwithstanding the loss in membership there was a substantial increase, amounting to $721,220, in the total income of these unions. This is explained by the fact that in the class of unions to which the loss of members is chiefly due the contributions of members are the lowest, while in the organizations of skilled labor, in which the contributions are highest, there has been an increase of membership. It is also to be noted that in many unions when the funds begin to fall below a certain limit the contributions of the members are proportionately increased, so that in bad years their total incomes are greater than in good years. It is also to be remembered that owing to the long duration of extensive labor disputes in 1893, and the large numbers of men engaged in them, great sums of money were contributed in special ways to certain unions for their support, which further increased the gross income for the year. The increase of expenditures in 1893 over 1892 was chiefly due to the increase of want of employment and of trade disputes. The effect of the industrial depression in both 1892 and 1893 is shown by comparing the expenditures in 1893 with those of 1891. In 1891 the total expenditure per member of the unions reporting was $5.38, while in 1893 it had risen to $8.97. The funds on hand at the end of the year 1893 amounted to $6.47 per member. The powers of trade unions as to the investment or deposit of their funds vary considerably, some having almost unlimited discretion, while others are strictly confined to investments of an absolutely safe character. The bulk of these accumulated funds is deposited in Government savings banks, or invested in Government stock, but some of the funds are invested in joint stock companies, municipal stock, or real estate. A sufficient amount, available for immediate use, is kept in the hands of the union officials. The details of expenditures for different purposes by the 534 trade unions reporting the facts for 1892 and 1893 are shown in the following table, in which are also shown the number and membership of the unions making expenditures for each purpose in each year: EXPENDITURES, ETC., OF 534 TRADE UNIONS, 1892 AND 1893. a The difference between this total of expenditure and that given in the preceding summary is due to some of the unions not reporting the details of their expenditures. The above table deals with the returns of 534 unions which furnished information as to certain details of their expenditures in either 1892 or 1893. As the same number of unions did not, in any instance, make expenditures for the same purpose in both years the table contains an element of uncertainty. In order to secure a proper basis of comparison the subjoined table is given, which shows for each of the items of expenditure the facts for only such unions or societies as made an expenditure for that purpose in both 1892 and 1893. EXPENDITURES, ETC., OF TRADE UNIONS REPORTING FOR BOTH 1892 AND 1893. WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The following is a synopsis of the principal features of a report on this subject published by the Labor Department of the British Board of Trade. The report consists of three parts, which treat, respectively, of-changes in rates of wages and hours of labor reported as having occurred during 1893, also some preliminary figures on the same subject for 1894; standard piece rates; standard time rates. CHANGES IN RATES OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR.-The object of the report is to put on record the principal changes which have been reported in market rates of wages and recognized hours of labor in various districts in the chief industries of the United Kingdom during the year to which the report refers. The data were obtained principally from the tables of changes in wages and hours of labor published monthly in the Labor Gazette. The material was originally secured from newspaper extracts (which were in all cases verified); reports from local correspondents, secretaries of employers' and workmen's associations, and others, on special forms distributed for that purpose; superintendents of mercantile marine, and miscellaneous sources. The information thus secured was subjected to a careful revision prior to publication in the Gazette. The data obtained from the Labor Gazette were supplemented as follows: Information concerning changes not reported at the time they occurred was obtained from the annual reports of trade unions, especially those which publish standard rates of wages. The changes reported during the year were grouped by industries, and printed slips containing the changes reported in each industry were distributed for corrections and additions to the secretaries of the trade unions and of the various employers' associa tions concerned with those trades, and also to the local correspondents of the department. In certain trades in which no changes had been reported during the year special inquiries were sent to the secretaries of associations. The information concerning the police was supplied by the chief constables and that relating to employees of local authorities by the clerks of such local authorities. The information concerning changes in seamen's wages is based on returns made by superintendents of mercantile marine to the registrar general of shipping and seamen, and that for agricultural laborers is confined to a comparison for certain districts of the limits of the rates at which laborers of various classes were hired at the yearly and halfyearly hiring fairs in 1892 and 1893. The field of employment covered more or less by the inquiry included the great majority of the wage-earning population, excepting domestic |