Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter IV. - Hours in factories

Collection:: Economics Books

30 CHAPTER 1V, departments of the mills, as is frequently the case, it is most unlikely that they will be able to have their meals together. In the second place, supervision becomes extremely difficult and the Chief Inspector of Factories gave evidence of long series of infringements in these mills. It is stated that an appreciable number of the workers shown in the re- gisters have no existence in fact. N on-existent workers are credited with pay which is divided between the clerks, the jobbers and the men who do the extra work. The proportion of such “ dummies ” was estimated by competent witnesses at 74 or 10 per cent of the total. Where this is true, the daily hours are clearly being lengthened beyond the legal limit. This abuse reaches its height in the case of children and the certifying Surgeons agree that “the systems of shifts in multiple-shift jute mills afford every opportunity for employment beyond legal limits and in some mills children are actually working as many as 11 or 12 hours a day ”. It is only fair to add that the certifying surgeons report that the over- working of children also occurs in single-shift mills. But in such mills it appears to take the form of employment in more than one mill and we agree with the Bengal Government that “ the regulation of child labour is easier from the point of view of both the manager and the factory inspector > Some Effects of the System. The system increases the power and the illicit profits of the jobbers and it diminishes correspondingly the control over labour which the management can exercise. Thus the influence of the jobbers is in favour of its maintenance and this is partly responsible for the fact that many workers apparently prefer it. Moreover, it enables the operative who desires to work longer than the Act permits to do so. On the other hand, the operative who wishes a short working week can secure 1t, for a strict observance of the time-table at present means only 44 hours’ work weekly against 55 hours in the single-shift mills. We believe that this constitutes a powerful attraction for many, and the extra day off which has generally been associated with the system has an obvious appeal. So far as wages and production are concerned, it is admitted that both are increased by the transition from multiple to single shift working. As even the supporters of the double-shift system admit that it is uneconomical, its continuance is a matter for some surprise. The explanation generally given is that the maintenance of g large reserve of labour makes it possible for the industry greatly to increase production without employing new workers or additional machinery. We do not believe that the reserve of labour is as large as the legitimate working of the system should produce, and in any case we regard these considerations as affording insufficient justification for its continuance, Conclusion regarding Overlapping Shifts. The proposal made by the Government of Bengal is that, in respect of shifts, local Governments should have power similar to that held by factory inspectors prior to 1922. Under the original Factories Act of 1911, textile mills could not work for more than 12 hours except on a system of shifts approved by the inspector. We consider that this

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