cubicles have been reduced to occupying bed-spaces and consequently, although rents for Chinese tenements have remained more or less the same, there has been an increase in overcrowding in the poorer districts and, at the same time, an increase in the number of vacant tenements. On the other hand there has been a slight but definite decrease in the cost of Chinese foodstuffs which has tempered the effects of the fall in wages rates.
1935
AVERAGE RATES OF WAGES FOR LABOUR.
Building Trade:-
Locomotive Drivers $1.50 to $2.00 per day. Carpenters 0.85 1.25 Bricklayers 1.17 1.20 Painters 0.85 1.25 Plasterers 0.95 1.25 Scaffolders 0.80 1.20 Labourers (male) 0.90 1.25 (female) 0.60 0.75 0.40 0.60Working hours 9 per day. Time and a half paid for overtime. Free temporary sleeping quarters provided on the building site and communal messing at cheap rates.
Shipbuilding & Engineering:
$1.00 to $1.40 per day. Electricians 1.00 1.60 Coppersmiths 0.80 1.55 Fitters 0.70 1.25 Sawmillers 0.95 1.20 Boilermakers 1.00 1.40 Sailmakers 0.75 1.20 Blacksmiths 1.00 1.40 Turners 1.00 1.40 Patternmakers 1.00 1.40 Labourers 0.70 1.00Overtime-time and a half. Night work-double time.