half past seven
Crass was thus in a position of more than ordinary importance , not only being superior to the ` hands ' , but also ranking above the other sub-foremen who had charge of the ` jobs ' . It was Crass and these sub-foremen who were to blame for most of the scamping and driving , because if it had not been for them neither Rushton nor Hunter would have known how to scheme the work . Of course , Hunter and Rushton wanted to drive and scamp , but not being practical men they would not have known how if it had not been for Crass and the others , who put them up to all the tricks of the trade . Crass knew that when the men stayed till half past seven they were in the habit of ceasing work for a few minutes to eat a mouthful of grub about six o'clock , so he suggested to Misery that as it was not possible to stop this , it would be a good plan to make the men stop work altogether from half past five till six , and lose half an hour 's pay ; and to make up the time , instead of leaving off at seven-thirty , they could work till eight . Misery had known of and winked at the former practice , for he knew that the men could not work all that time without something to eat , but Crass 's suggestion seemed a much better way , and it was adopted . When the other masters in Mugsborough heard of this great reform they all followed suit , and it became the rule in that town , whenever it was necessary to work overtime , for the men to stay till eight instead of half past seven as formerly , and they got no more pay than before . Previous to this summer it had been the almost invariable rule to have two men in each room that was being painted , but Crass pointed out to Misery that under such circumstances they wasted time talking to each other , and they also acted as a check on one another : each of them regulated the amount of work he did by the amount the other did , and if the ` job ' took too long it was always difficult to decide which of the two was to blame : but if they were made to work alone , each of them would be on his mettle ; he would not know how much the others were doing , and the fear of being considered slow in comparison with others would make them all tear into it all they could .