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8
character. These latter employ far more persons than the district
could absorb or accommodate as residents, and though methods
of transit have modified the effects, they still do affect such conditions
as housing, drainage and hospital accommodation. The
issues which have emerged from the changed conditions in the laun
dry industry, are, in a sense, simpler in their character.
Until the dawn of the present century, most of the laundries
in the district were hand laundries, and these took on the character
of the domestic workshop, in which most of the work was done by
the members of the family, assisted by a few neighbours, frequently
relations, and usually treated as members of the family.
There were a few factory laundries in which mechanical pow er
was utilised, and the work specialised, but the majority of the
workers were employed in the hand laundries. These condition
existed up to the outbreak of the Great War. Prior to that momentous
event, there were indications of pending changes, but it was that
event which precipitated the substitution of the domestic workshop
laundry by the power laundry. Many factors operated in the change
—economic as well as industrial. The difficulties of supplies, the
scarcity of labour, the changes in the means of transport, the keen
competition—all played a part.
The result has been the gradual and probably the inexorable
disappearance of the hand laundry and concentration of the work in
large factories, where most of the work is done by machinery and
most of the processes have become mechanised. The work also has
become specialized. The tub and dolly have cisappeared, together
with the other familiar equipments of the old laundries. It was formerly
held that Rheumatism in particular was especially prevalent
amongst the women employed on account of the damp conditions.
The actual washing is now done in bag-washers and other closed
containers, and then passed through the hydro-extractors operated
by men.
Married female labour was largely utilised, but this has not
been eliminated by present conditions. Although most of the work
has become mechanised, some of the processes still require an extensive
experience as well as individual skill, and some of the most
experienced and skilful are married women. This need for marieed
female labour operates in diverse ways: it has its attendant evils as
well as its economic advantages to the families concerned. the
Day Nursery was established to meet the demands of the married
women who worked in the laundries, and from its continued popularity,
it shows that the demand still exists. Though Nursery