War Bonus For Employes

From the Halifax Courier, 6th March 1915.

WAR BONUS FOR EMPLOYES.

The following notice has been posted as the English Card Clothing Company’s Mills at Huddersfield:  Owing to the increased cost of living due to the war the directors of the English Card Clothing Co., Ltd., have decided to grant a weekly war bonus to those in their employ as follows: -- All males, 21 years of age, 2s. per week; all males under 21, and all females, 1s. per week.  It must be distinctly understood that this bonus is for the duration of the war only and the directors reserve the right to discontinue it at their discretion.  The Company have 2 branches at Halifax, one at Huddersfield, one at Cleckheaton, and one at Mirfield, and employ altogether about 1,200 hands.  It will be remembered that when the war broke out the directors made a maintenance grant to the dependants of the men in their employ, who had enlisted, of £1 a week.

[Card clothing refers to the mats of little wire pins that cover the rollers of carding machines, used to comb wool  in an early stage of the processing of raw fleeces into yarn and then cloth.  The men were probably being paid around £2 (40 shillings) per week and the women about £1, so that the 'bonus' of 2 shillings or 1 shilling respectively was  about 5%.]