Here is a testimony from Joseph Larkins, a boy who worked in a biscuit-making factory in Nova Scotia.

Q. How old are you?

A. I am 11 years.

Q. What is the matter with your hand?

A. I got hurt in the machinery.

Q. How?

A. It got caught in the rollers.

Q. What rollers?

A. The rollers of a cracker machine - a biscuit machine.

Q. How long were you working in the biscuit factory?

A. About seven weeks.

Q. Was it part of your work to look after the machinery?

A. No, I was taken in as a packer and was then put to work on the machinery.

Q. How much wages did they give you?

A. A dollar a week at first, and then $1.25.

Q. How much do they give you now?

A. Nothing at all.

Q. How long is it since you were hurt?

A. Nine weeks Thursday.

Q. And they have not given you anything?

A. No; except the week when I was hurt.

Q. Did you ask for employment?

A. My mother asked for a job for me, and they said I could get a job biscuit packing; then they changed me to where the machinery was.

Q. What were you doing at the machinery?

A. I was brushing the dough off as it came through.

Q. Did you lose any fingers?

A. I lost one.

Q. Did you lose any of the joints of the others?

A. I think I will lose a second finger.

Source: Royal Commission on the Relations of Capital and Labour in Canada (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1889)