ABSTRACT
After two years of collecting and consolidating of information, the SCSS brought its labours to a close in 1890, though not without an element of conflict. Whilst the views of the committee had been gradually modified, Dunraven remained adamant that the root causes of sweating were the advance of machinery, subcontracting and, above all, the competition of foreign immigrants with low living standards. 1 As chairman, he submitted a preliminary paper embodying these ideas. 2 The other committee members unanimously rejected his findings. The Times regretted that it was,
unfortunate that Lord Dunraven has not been able to find a single supporter of his reading of the evidence upon a Committee which includes men of the highest ability … he must have failed seriously in what is the primary duty of a chairman anxious to expedite business – namely, appreciation of the general feeling of the Committee and approximately accurate expression of its conclusions. 3
