Immediately (August 22nd, 1849) after the issue of the "Appeal" the women employed by Miss Watkins were asked to sign a statement that they were perfectly satisfied with their pay and conditions. Several signed, not knowing the purport of the paper; others refused. On the advice of the men's Union a counter-statement was drawn up and signed, and sent in to the Bible Society, and on finding that the forewoman who had taken their part, together with the active promoters of the counter-petition, were to be discharged, the women left work, and demanded:--
1. That prices should be raised to the standard paid by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
3. That they should have access to cold water as well as hot for tea.
4. That after the learners then employed had completed their apprenticeship, not more than twenty learners should be employed at one time.
About a hundred women had come out, and the men's Union organised a relief fund.[20]
[Footnote 20: It may not be amiss to copy a few sentences from Mr. Dunning's obituary notice in the _Bookbinder's Trade Circular_, January 21st, 1862, of the women's leader, Mary E. Zugg, an early and humble worker in women's organisations. "Nothing could exceed the temper, moderation and firmness she displayed. Possessing great energy, strong sense and great acuteness of perception, detecting at a glance pretence from reality, she was not what was termed a strong-minded woman, commanding great respect and but little affection, for her goodness of heart and great regard for the feelings and welfare of others endeared her to all." She died at the age of thirty-three of consumption on November 13th, 1861, and is buried in Bow Cemetery.]
Miss Watkins replied, denying every charge made by Mr. Dunning, and giving 10_s._ as the earnings for a week of sixty hours. The Union replied by asking that a deputation should be allowed to inspect the wages books of the firm. It claimed to be in possession of the rates of wages paid to ninety-seven folders and sewers for three weeks in August, and gave the average as 6_s._ 2½_d._ for a sixty-hours' week, and in other respects it supported its original charges.
The _Times_ of January 25th, 1850, contains in its advertisement columns the report of a Committee of the Southwark Auxiliary of the Bible Society, which examined Miss Watkins' books, and it supported her statements. The women earned from 9_s._ to 14_s._ per week. But Mr. Dunning was not silenced, and on March 25th he issued a long pamphlet, the last of the "controversy" for the time. In it, it is stated that the committee of investigation had been deceived so as to mistake wages paid for ten days as though they were paid for a week, and a table of wages for three weeks in September and October, for the week ending July 28th, 1849, and for the four weeks preceding the strike, was printed.[21] The wage average of the periods was from 5_s._ 9½_d._ to 6_s._ 4½_d._ per week of sixty hours.