soon convinced of the wisdom of making this concession.

With certain processes prolonged standing is inevitable, but evidence as to resulting injury was not forthcoming in Birmingham or Coventry. None of the doctors interviewed was able to make any statement regarding the effects of a continued standing posture, as no cases of injury that could be attributed to this cause had come to their notice. Some of the Welfare supervisors stated that girls got very tired at first but soon got used to the permanent standing, and that no serious or lasting injuries resulted, though in a few cases girls not used to industrial work would get flat-footed or would suffer from swollen feet. While varicose veins are rare in young girls, every witness brought into contact with older married women was impressed by the apparent inevitability of this trouble in later years, but it is impossible to gather how far work during adolescence is responsible.

Evidence as to the effects of standing on the menstrual function will be discussed later.

From the evidence received it seems probable that only a small proportion, and these perhaps the more delicate, are troubled by prolonged standing, but attention may be drawn to the evidence of one large factory where 50 per cent of all new workers leave before the end of six months, and of these 30 per cent declare that they find the standing so fatiguing that they cannot remain at the work.

In most of the processes of the cotton and worsted industries chances of resting are exceedingly rare. Girls carrying laps[10] from the blowing-room to the cards, can-tenters and drawing-frame minders in the card-room, and winders and weavers, seldom, if ever, get an opportunity to sit down. Girls on the slubber, intermediate, and roving frames, and those in the ring-room of the cotton trade and the spinning-rooms of the worsted industry, are in a better position in that a few minutes' rest is sometimes possible, and some managers and overlookers believe that these girls are less tired and show a better sickness record than the former group. Even where the nature of the work allows occasional periods of rest, seats are scarcely ever provided, so that the girls seldom sit down unless the waste-boxes or the skips are in a suitable position so that they can see down their frames to note if the work is proceeding all right. Many of the witnesses stated complacently that the girls soon got used to the prolonged standing, but doctors noted that prolapsed wombs were not uncommon in young women between 20 and 30, though some felt that the number of cases were not sufficient to warrant any conclusions. Sick Visitors also reported that prolapse was not unusual, and that most girls found the long hours of standing very fatiguing. Cases of prolapse are sometimes reported amongst young married women who have not worked after marriage and who have had every care after child-birth, which seems to point to an adverse influence exerted during adolescence. Sometimes girls complain bitterly of the lack of opportunity for even a few minutes' rest, and the Sick Visitors say that conditions of work which do not allow a girl to snatch even a short respite during a 10-hour day do not give her a chance to get over any constitutional delicacy. As a general rule, however, the girls make no complaints, but older women find the continued standing very tiring, and many witnesses believe that this is due to the cumulative strain of long years, while some declare that the anaemia prevalent among young textile workers is largely due to the weakened condition brought about by long hours of standing.

Reference may be made here to the necessity for attention to the type of seat provided, particularly in entirely sedentary occupations, as in the clothing trade and in many of the processes of such industries as biscuit-making, soap-manufacturing, etc. Witnesses from the clothing trade laid great stress on the fact that sitting all day on a small hard stool was extremely fatiguing for growing girls, as it gave no support to their backs, and the Welfare Worker of a large soap-works, after trying one of the stools in her own office, is having them all replaced by chairs with suitable backs in those departments where the work is mainly sedentary.

Weight-carrying and Heavy Work.—As far as one can gather from the rather scanty evidence available under this heading, girls under 16 in munition works are seldom engaged on work involving heavy lifting and carrying. The majority of young girls are feeding automatic machines and working power presses, and all materials are brought and taken away by special labourers. Many girls over 16 have been substituted for men workers, but it is exceedingly difficult to gauge the effect which such work is exerting on their health. Overlookers and Welfare supervisors declare that tall strong girls are chosen for heavy processes and that very few injuries result, while a girl can be transferred to lighter work if the heavy work is too fatiguing. One doctor related how she had just concluded the examination of 200 women and girls engaged on heavy capstan lathes and had discovered no injurious effects, but she pointed out that they were all from the Black Country, where women and girls have been doing heavy work for several generations, and their physique was undoubtedly superior to that of the average industrial girl worker. Another doctor stated that the carrying of weights over 50 lbs. is exceedingly injurious to adolescent girls, as it causes the heart to beat too quickly, so that after a time the beat is continuously rapid and anaemia sets in. This effect is seldom, if ever, noticed in girls over 20. On the other hand, uterine injuries are practically unknown in young girls and hernia is very rare.

In one large works the girls who are transferred to men's work of lifting and carrying goods are selected by the gymnasium mistress and wear gymnastic costumes to facilitate their movements, and the works doctor reports that there have been no ill effects beyond a few cases of sprained ankles and wrists.

By an agreement between the Master Cotton Spinners and the Card and Blowing Room Amalgamation, which was signed in February 1917, women and girls are allowed to break off laps from openers and scutchers provided they do not exceed 45 lbs. in weight, and also to fetch these from the blowing-room on lap-trams and put them on the cards. In Leigh, Wigan, and other districts where Trade Unionism is weak, girls have been employed at this work for a long time prior to the agreement, and the laps are seldom moved on lap-trams but are carried on the girl's shoulder. Some overlookers said that they had always tried to get tall strong girls for lap-carrying, as the laps, though seldom very heavy—average weight 32–42 lbs.—are very cumbersome to manipulate, and that such girls never experienced any difficulty in carrying the laps. Where this care is not exercised (and it is to be feared that in the majority of cases no regard is paid to the girl's capacity for the work) difficulty in manipulating the bulky lap may be experienced by small girls.

Can-tenting on the cards is an easy or fatiguing occupation according as the cans are made of fibre or of tin. When the latter are in use girls get very tired, as they are continually dragging the cans, three or four at a time, from the cards to the drawing-frames, which are often some distance away. The secretary of one branch of the Card Room Amalgamation expressed the opinion that the use of fibre-cans ought to be compulsory, as the improvement in physical