J8

CHAPTER VII.

that these children were in the position of being obliged to work any
number of hours per day required of them by their masters. They
were without the protection of the law as regards their physical fitness
bo labour, the number of hours they might be required to work without
any interval or, indeed, any other of the more elementary protections
afforded by the Factories Act in respect of child workers, and they were
subjected in some cases to corporal punishment. Yet the bulk of such
children were 2 to 5 years below the statutory working age in respect
of child workers employed in factories under the Act. We understand
that the local Government drew the attention of the industry to the
position of these children as long ago as 1923, and that in 1927, after
an enquiry which shewed that conditions were unchanged, made suggestions
 for the regulation of child labour. These included the fixing
of a minimum age of 9 years and a maximum day of 8 hours for children
up to 12 years. The factory owners were prepared to accept a minimum
age of 8 years and to provide educational facilities, but the opposition
of the master weavers prevented any agreement by their unwillingness
 to accept, either then or subsequently, any reduction in the working
 hours. The matter of a voluntary trade agreement in respect of the
working conditions of these children is believed still to be under consieration.
 We are convinced that here, as in the bids factories, official
reculation is required primarily in the interests of the child worker.

Tanneries.
We received a considerable volume of evidence in respect of
the conditions of tannery workers and took occasion to visit a number
on the outskirts of the chief industrial cities. As the handling of skins
and hides is obnoxious to most castes, the workers in this industry
coms largely from the depressed classes. In every case {in contrast
bo some of the larger tanneries which came under the Factories Act)
we were struck by the lack of adequate sanitary arrangements, which
make the bulk of such places even more offensive than is inevitable
from the nature of the industry. Adequate drainage was absent and
often the whole earth-floor space, spread over a wide area, was lifitered
with heaps of evil-smelling refuse and sodden with pools of filthy water.
There were no washing arrangements and, in the majority of cases,
no latrine accommodation. In a number of instances the workers
had no alternative but to eat the food they had brought with them in
fhe midst of such surroundings. Hours were long, often 12 and sometimes
 in excess of 12, and, whereas few women were employed, in the
Madras Presidency children of from 8 to 12 years, as well as older boys,
were found at work in the vats and elsewhere. Their hours sometimes
exceeded those of the adults owing to the necessity of performing
certain additional tasks such as water carrying, vat filling, etc., for which
they receive no additional cash wages but merely two dholis a year.
We feel that the statutory protection of the workers in this industry
is essential because of the nature of the work and the class of worker
smployed, which from long social tradition is peculiarly powerless to
help itself.