UNREGULATED FACTORIES.

85

continuously torn apart with the bare hands, the atmosphere becomes
thickly impregnated with dust, and no attempt is made to ensure the
workers a less vitiated atmosphere in which to work for what are often
very long hours. In many cases no proper latrine accommodation is
provided.

Shellac Manufacture.
The manufacture of shellac is carried on mainly in Bihar and Orissa
and to a lesser extent in the Central Provinces. In the former province,
when trade is normal, about 4,000 persons are employed in 127 factories,
of which only 15 come under the Factories Act. In the latter province
about 2,000 workers were employed during 1929 in 22 factories ; none of
these comes under the Act because no power machinery is employed,
although in the majority of cases there are more than 50 persons
to each establishment. The manufacture of shellac is for the most
part carried on in unsatisfactory buildings with leaking roofs and
earth floors. Poor lighting and ventilation and an almost universal
absence of any washing and sanitary arrangements are characteristic,
although the bad smell created by the nature of the industry and
the dirtiness of the manufacturing processes make these particularly
necessary. The greatest deficiency, however, is to be found in the lack,
both in and around the factory, of drainage for drawing off the water
in which the lac has been washed. As a result of a recent investigation of
these places undertaken by the Director of Public Health in the Central
Provinces, it was reported that ‘ Washing pits, reservoirs and drains are
not properly cleaned at regular intervals. The same water is used for
washing over and over again for a week or more and is allowed to stagnate
for a period before it is drained off. Due to putrefaction of all the animal
refuse from the stick lac, along with myriads of crushed insects in this
water, the stinking effluvia from washing basins and drains are disgusting.
But the persons employed on washing have to stand knee-deep in this
water in the pits and carry on the work for hours together.” The daily
hours of work are normally not excessive, but no regular intervals for
meals or weekly holidays are conceded, although admittedly this last evil
is largely counteracted by irregular attendance and the seasonal nature of
the work.

Labour in Shellac Factories.
Women workers form about 30 per cent of the labour force, and
are employed on stripping, grinding and sieving, men being engaged in
washing, melting and stretching. Inthe Central Provinces children under
12 years of age are employed on the lighter work of drying lac and twisting
 bags used in the melting process. In Bihar and Orissa boys, mostly
at or about the statutory age under the Factories Act, are also employed
on melting, Unfortunately in both cases these children, who form ten
per cent; of the whole, are largely to be found inside the stove room, which
in the opinion of the Director of Public Health of the Central Provinces,
cannot but be harmful to them on account of the excessive heat. Even
in the case of the adult melters and their assistants who work near the
stoves. it is reported that °° great exhaustion is felt at the end of the