FABIAN TRACT, No. 35. The Fabian Municipal Program, No. 6. ~f?e ~tlunicipa£isafion of ff?e J1onbon ~ocfts. The careless individualism which allowed the control of London's riverside accommodation to pass into private hands has brought its own punishment. The Docks have as their product the casual dock-labourer of the East End; and the persistent refusal of the gigantic dock companies to take any steps to organise this labour or to systematize its employment is the despair of every East End reformer. The Docks offer a potent attraction to the shiftless casual. Habits of decent regular work are rather in the way than otherwise. The ever-present chance of a job of this kind furnishes a perpetual addition of strength to the temptations whereby industrial character is lost. The London Docks are now, by successive amalgamations, m the hands of four huge companies, having an aggregate nominal capital of over twenty million pounds sterling, and the largest two of them have further combined under a joint committee. Particulars of this capital are given below; and it will be seen that although the companies have been competing ruinously with each other, and with the wharfingers, a net revenue of over £570,000 is yielded annually, being about 2 4-5th % on the whole nominal capital. It is to save this income from jeopardy that the directors refuse every request and neglect every suggestion made to them to diminish the evil caused by their manner of employing labour. The scandal of the Docks is not so much the low wages to be earned as the uncertain nature of the employment. In order to avoid the expense of a permanent staff, labour is engaged for a few hours at a time, and lett to loaf and starve when not wanted. The Dock Companies recognise absolutely no duties towards those they employ. The "Joint Committee" of the two main companies is now probably the largest individual employer of labour in London, and there can be no doubt that, tor magnitude of evil · the worst. "" Income to Dock .s ~i Capital. I I Owners. Companies. ip.~ Debentures £12,250 !oint Committee £350.000 3~ I ---£12,250 ---i£350,000 4 41.:,06 Debentures 1,037,GfJ9 4 Debenture Stock 87,125 2.178,1:15 54,000 Preference Stock 1,200 000 4! I London & St.} 4\ do. do. 1~.noo Katharine. 420,000 Ordinary Stock 71,D58 5,75G,6D7 1! ---273,489 ---10,592,491 4 Mortgage Loans 2!,G73 616,845 ... Deferred Stock ... 154,567 4 Debenture Bonds 21,200 530,000 E"< & W•"} 4 Debenture Stock India. 2,00D,!3D 80,377 Ordinary Stock ... 2,385,500 ... ---126,250 ---5,696,351 Deb·enture Stock 5 22,172 ~1illwall ....• 443,457 5 5,7D2 Preference Stock 115,350 do. do. 11,2:30 2;;0,000 4~ 5 21,500 4DO,OOO do. do. Ordinary Stock 3 17,D91 59D,700 4 Debenture Stock 24,209 96S (Average) ---1,923,216 --- --- 82,673 Debenture Stock 6,~00 140,000 4~ 5 Preference Stock 17,.100 348,000 Surrey Com-} 5 7,700 154,000 do. do. merciaI. 49,210 964,814 Ordinary Stock 5 ---79,640 ---1,606,814 £574,302 £20,168,872 (Compiled from Burdett's "Official Intelligence," 1891. THE Nt:MBER AND GRADES OF MEN EMPLOYED (OUT-DOOR STAFF) BY EACH OF THE THREE EAST END DocK COMPANIES HAVE BEE:-/ ESTIMATED AS FOLLOWS> London & East & 11 St.. Westindia 1~~~k~. Total. K th a anne Docks. 1 --------------------~~D~o~c~k~. _ ) s~___ F oremen, &c. ... ... ... ,. 4.00 1 457} I P olice... ... ... ... ... ::: 100 lH 300 Artizans and Permanent Labourer£ 570 2-!7 ---·------------"'1----------- Total regularly employed ... ..., 1,070 818 300 ~U88 Irregulars : preferred for employment I ("Ticket" men or " Royals") 4i;O 7001 00 Others (maximum employed) ... 3,250 1,6-55 5 ... J---~-1----:------ Total of irregularly emplo) ed ... ... 3,i00 2,3.15 ---------------------------------'---- Maximum employed 4,770 3,173 .:Minimum employed ... ... ... 2,1i0 1,418 A--v-e-ra_g_e__e_m_p_l-oy_e_d---.. -.----..-.----.-..-----.. I 3,270 ~ 800 G,S.;5 1,100 9 ,043 300 3.888 500 15,899 Comp1led from C. Boolh s " Labour and L1fe of the People," Vol. I.,p. rgo, the largefigures being added as conjectural estimates. These statist1cs (which do not include the Surrey Commercial Docks, employing probably 1500 men) are much below the estimate formed in 1886 by the Mansion House Relief Committee. "The total number of daily applicants for casual labour at all the (London) docks may be roughly put down at 20,000. there would be from 7,000 to 8,000 men who, having no regular employment, daily apply, and apply in vain, for such work" (''Mansion House Report," 1886, p. 7). These estimates are not very trustworthy, and later figures are not available. Assuming, however, that those who apply in vain for work at 6d. per hour do not exceed, on an average, 3,000. rising to a maximum of 5,000, the influence of this perpetual lottery is unquestionablyevil. "In truth, the occasional employment of this class of labour hy the docks, waterside and other East End industries is a gigantic system of out-door relief" (p. 202, Booth's " Labour and Life of the People," Vol. I.) It creates a demoralized and vicious "leisure class." "I venture to think," says Miss Beatrice Potter, «that the existence, and, I fear, the growth of this leisure class in our great cities, notably in London, is the gravest problem of the future" (ibid. p. 204). "The conscience of the country was awakened to the iniquity of allowing the whole factory population to be deteriorated and brutalized by overstrain and absence of all moral and sanitary regulations. Why should we suffer the greater evil of a system of employment which discourages honest and persistent work, and favours the growth of a demoralised and demoralizing class of bad workers and evil livers?"( ibid, p. 206). This "greater evil" is perpetuated for the sake of the dividends of the dock shareholders. To organize permanentemployment at the docks, and make the docker into as regular a worker as the railway porter, might cost a little more money and a little more trouble than the present happy-go-lucky anarchy. No body of shareholders will make this sacrifice, or any part of it; but why should not London take over the control and managementof its own docks? The Clyde, the Mersey, the Tyne, the Wear, the Severn, and the Avon are in the hands of representativepublic authorities; and Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Bristol, Swansea, as well as nearly all other great ports, have their docks free from private control. There is already a public authority for the River. The Thames Conservancy Board has jurisdiction over the Thames from Cricklade to Yantlet Creek, and consists of23 members nominated by the Corporation of London, the Trinity House, the Lord HighAdmiral, the Privy Council, the Board of Trade, and the owners of ships, river steamers, lighters, tugs, docks, and wharves. One party only seems unrepresented on this queerly composed bodygoverning London's River, and that is the people of London themseh·es. It raised, in 1886-7, £85,530; spent £75,850; and owed £102,400 (H. C., 431, 1889, p. 39.) The task of managing the London Docks would be great, but no greater than that already successfully undertaken byLiverpool, where the " Mersey Docks and Harbour Board" had, in 1886-7, a capital debt of £17,006,169, with receiptsof £1,405,562, and expenditure of £617,228, with £791,731 for int~rest and sinking fund. (H.C., 431 of 1889, p. 39.) The substitution for the Conservancy Board of either a committee of the County Council or a representative " Dock and River Trust," with power to take over the property of the four great companies, and levy dues adequate to cover all its expenses, appears to be the best practicable means of organising the demoralised dock labourers, and so healing the spreading social ulcer of the East End. FABIAN SOCIETY. T T HE FABIAN SOCIETY consists of Socialists. A statement of its Rules, etc., and the following publications can be obtained from the Secretary. at the Fabian Office, 276 Strand, London, \V.C. " FABIAN ESSAYS IN SOCIALISM." (27th Thousand). Library Edition, 6s.; or, dirtct from th~ Stcretary jor rash, 4/6 (postage 4!d.) Cheap Edition, Paper cover, 1/-; ditto, plain cloth, 2/-. At all booksellers,. or post free from the Secretary for 1/-and 2/-respectively. FABIAN TRACTS. No. I.-Why are the Many Poor? 85th thous. Price 6 for rd.; r/-per roo. No. 5.-Facts for Socialists. 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No. 1 (Tract No. 30).-The Unearned Increment. .5:; . No. 2 iTract No. 31).-London's Heritage in the City Guilds. }"" '~ No. 3 Tract No. 32.)-Municipalization of the Gas Supply. Jl'E ..!.. No. 4 Tract No 33.)-Municipal Tramways. -;_g ': No. 5 (fract No. 34·)-London's Water Tribute. g; ... -§· No. 6 (Tract No. 35-l-Municipalization of the London Docks. .... ~ e No. 7 (Tract No. 36. -The Scandal of London's Markets. -5" [. No. 8 (Tract No. 37· -A Labour Policy for Public Authorities. ~~ ~ ~Ilze set bost free