UNREGULATED FACTORIES. 9%

provinces where this type of labour is most prevalent, we are confident
from the evidence submitted to us, as well as from our own personal
observations, that it is sufficiently large in certain areas to constitute
an evil which demands immediate remedy.
Carpet Weaving.
Carpet weaving is done in several parts of India, sometimes
as a cottage industry, as at Mirzapur in the United Provinces, and sometimes
 as a factory industry, where a number of looms are concentrated
in one shed, as in the Amritsar district of the Punjab. In the case of
the factories, the hours of work are confined to those of daylight ; artificial
lighting is not normally used except in the case of occasional rush orders,
The sheds are open to the air on one side and often to the sunlight, but
too frequently the earth-floor is damp, the surrounding yards dirty,
the drains open and evil-smelling, and the latrine accommodation inade-Juate
 or non-existent. The work is usually done in a cramped posture.
Children in Amritsar Carpet Factories.

The main point to be observed in this industry is again the
employment of young children. In the carpet factories of Amritsar
these children are employed not directly by the factory owner but
by the weaving masters, who are responsible both for engaging them
and for paying their wages. The manager eoncerns himself solely
With the master weaver who is paid on a contract basis, 7.e., so much
for each carpet, according to its size, quality and design. There is
for the most part no limitation on the children’s hours, other than that
imposed by the exigencies of daylight and the need of rest intervals,
though holidays are generally obtained by taking advantage of both
Hindu and Musalman religious festivals. No girl labour is employed.
 For the most part boys start at 9 years of age, though in some
cases it may be as low as 6 years. Although the method by which this
boy labour is obtained varies in details in different parts of the district,
its essential characteristics are the same throughout. Where the
child is not the son or a near relative of the weaving master, he is
normally the child of a man who, in return for a loan of money from the
weaving master, contracts out the labour of his child at so many rupees
(7, 9, ete., according to the age of the child) per month. The duration
of the contract, which is sometimes set out in a formal document,
would appear to be determined by the repayment of the loan. It is
not without significance that one Witness, who was Managing Director
of a leading carpet manufacturing firm, declared, when shown such a
document found by us on his own premises and drawn up only a few
weeks previously, that that was the first time he had ever heard of the
existence of written contracts of the kind, excusing his ignorance on
the ground that he had nothing to do with the children ” and dealt
only with the master weavers. Yet, on his own admission, in this industry
 two of the four persons on the normal-sized loom are generally
children under 12 years, the remaining two being a boy of over 14 years
and the master weaver himself. It was clear to us from the evidence