THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE FACTORY WORKER. 25 
of the factory permitsit. He should be subordinate to no one except the 
general manager of the factory, and should be carefully selected. peo 
technical qualifications are not essential for the appointment, t ne 
a general knowledge of the processes is necessary. } Integrity, persona ’ y 
energy, the gift of understanding individuals and linguistic facility are g 
main qualities required. No employee should be engaged except by t . 
labour officer personally, in consultation with departmental heads, and 
none should be dismissed without his consent, except by the manager 
himself, after hearing what the labour officer has to say. It should be 
the business of the labour officer to ensure that no employee is discharged 
without adequate cause; if he is of the right type, the workers 
will rapidly learn to place confidence in him and to regard him as 
their friend. There are many other duties which such an officer can fulfil. 
particularly in respect of welfare ; we propose to indicate some of these 
in connection with other subjects. 
Contrel over Appointments and Dismissals. 
The system here recommended has already been tried in a few 
Indian factories and big industrial enterprises, and, where the right type of 
officer has been employed, it has generally met with conspicuous success. 
In one case, however, the attempt to introduce it was defeated by the 
workers themselves. The account of this attempt furnished to us by the 
employers leaves no doubt that the jobbers were responsible for the 
workers’ opposition ; and no doubt in many cases it will be ex- 
tremely difficult to defeat the jobbers’ machinations. Were it not for this 
difficulty and the fear of trouble, more persistent endeavours in this direc- 
tion would doubtless have been made by many employers. Associations 
of employers could with advantage consider and determine upon a com- 
mon policy in an attempt to stamp out bribery. Weare satisfied, how- 
ever, as are the employers who made the experiment referred to, 
that the method is bound to be of material and permanent benefit 
to labour, once the initial difficulty has been overcome. Where a 
union is in existence, its co-operation should be sought and should 
generally be available, but in some cases the jobbers’ influence is potent 
even within the union. Where it is not possible to employ a whole-time 
labour officer, the manager or some responsible officer should retain 
complete control of engagements and dismissals. This, of course, is only 
possible where the controlling officers are prepared to keep the same hours 
as the workers—a requirement which is not the invariable rule in one 
big industrial centre 
The Supervision of Women. 
The supervision of women presents special difficulties. When 
undertaken, as ig generally the case, by male jobbers, it leads to serious 
abuses and has resulted in representations tothe Commission. Where 
women workers are numerous, they are often under the charge of cther 
women, known commonly as natkins or mukeddamin. This system 
reduces, but does not always eliminate, the greater evils arising from 
male supervision. Too often, however, the naikin has the rapacity