and for that matter may not be introduced into them even yet, but then Melbourne contains half the people of the colony and much more than half the industry.
The saddlers also adopted the eight hours day in 1885, and in their case likewise there is a diminution in the number of establishments and an increase in their produce, but at the same time, curiously enough, a decided decline in the number of hands employed.
| Year. | No. of Establishments |
Hands. | Product. |
| 1884 | 63 | 636 | £87,131 |
| 1885 | 62 | 593 | 87,054 |
| 1886 | 63 | 579 | 89,905 |
| 1887 | 53 | 496 | 90,970 |
| 1888 | 57 | 465 | 97,592 |
The bootmakers, who also received the eight hours day in 1885, show a decline in the number of the establishments, a decline in the number of hands employed, and a slight but not immediate decline in the product.
| Year. | No. of Establishments |
Hands. | Product. |
| 1884 | 94 | 4,165 | £203,351 |
| 1885 | 107 | 4,088 | 203,968 |
| 1886 | 91 | 4,100 | 205,773 |
| 1887 | 92 | 3,574 | 189,028 |
| 1888 | 97 | 3,886 | 199,228 |
The agricultural implement-makers obtained the eight hours day in 1886,[1] and in their case there followed an increase in the number of the establishments and in the value of the general product, but a temporary diminution in the number of hands employed.
| Year. | No. of Establishments |
Hands. | Product. |
| 1885 | 54 | 1,152 | £114,419 |
| 1886 | 55 | 1,023 | 139,794 |
| 1887 | 63 | 948 | 143,937 |
| 1888 | 62 | 1,051 | 151,608 |
- ↑ When I speak of these trades as having obtained the short day in a particular year, I mean that they walked for the first time as an eight hours trade in the procession of that particular year on Demonstration Day, 21st April. They may have actually obtained the concession any time between that date and the same day the year before, but I have no means of stating the time more precisely.
