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# Chapter VIII.
## WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.
The favourable rate of the local dollar which remained steady throughout the year undoubtedly helped the local industries.
Factories which produced goods for the Empire markets i.e. hand electric torches, rubber shoes, dry battery cells, cork and felt hats and artificial silk goods had a very good year. Taking all the local industries together a great improvement was made.
## Piece work
The system of payment remained the same. Piece work was the general rule in the lower grades of work of the light industries and in all mass production work. This system seemed to be the most satisfactory to the employers and the employed. Daily pay remained the rule for skilled male labour.
New industries sprang up, such as the manufacture of tooth brushes, gas masks and their component parts, and fertilizer from street refuse. Weaving and knitting factories, and also torch and battery factories, showed a marked increase in numbers.
There was a considerable improvement in employment. The heavy industries did a great deal towards this. Female labour, too, had a good year. In cigarette, torch, weaving and knitting factories, in all of which female labour predominates, the available space for workers was fully occupied.
Most of the factories worked full time. In a number of cases larger and better premises were taken over and much modern machinery installed.
No trouble was experienced in respect of wages disputes.
The number of factories increased by more than one third, from 541 to 781. 241 new factories opened, whilst only 51 closed down.
After allowing for seasonal fluctuations, there was a slight average rise in the prices of the commodities included in the cost of living index up to July, the last normal month before the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities. But this rise was very uneven. While meat, vegetables, clothes and shoes prices rose, firewood and oil prices fell substantially. After July prices climbed rapidly to a peak (average) in late September, at levels between 20% and 70% above the corresponding figures for 1936, with the exception of tea and oil prices which rose about 10%. After September prices fell off about 15% in relation to the corresponding figures for 1936.
24
Chapter VIII.
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.
The favourable rate of the local dollar which remained steady throughout the year undoubtedly helped the local indus- tries.
Factories which produced goods for the Empire markets i.e. hand electric torches, rubber shoes, dry battery cells, cork and feit hats and artificial silk goods had a very good year. Taking all the local industries together a great improvement was made.
Piece work
The system of payment remained the same. was the general rule in the lower grades of work of the light industries and in all mass production work. This system seemed to be the most satisfactory to the employers and the employed. Daily pay remained the rule for skilled male labour.
New industries sprang up, such as the manufacture of tooth brushes, gas masks and their component parts, and fertilizer from street refuse. Weaving and knitting factories, and also torch and battery factories, showed a marked increase in numbers.
There was a considerable improvement in employment. The heavy industries did a great deal towards this. Female labour, too, had a good year. In cigarette, torch, weaving and knitting factories, in all of which female labour predominates, the available space for workers was fully occupied.
Most of the factories worked full time. In a number of cases larger and better premises were taken over and much modern machinery installed.
No trouble was experienced in respect of wages missals.
or dis-
The number of factories increased by more than one third, from 541 to 781. 241 new factories opened, whilst only 51 closed down.
After allowing for seasonal fluctuations, there was a slight average rise in the prices of the commodities included in the cost of living index up to July, the last normal month before the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities. But this rise was very uneven. While meat, vegetables, clothes and shoes prices rose, firewood and oil prices fell substantially. After July prices climbed rapidly to a peak (average) in late September, at levels between 20% and 70% above the corresponding figures for 1936, with the exception of tea and oil prices which rose about 10%. After September prices fell off about 15% in relation to the corresponding figures for 1936.
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