1924.

CHAPTER VIII.

exclusion of children under 13 years, grant of a weekly holiday and the limitation
 of weekly hours to 60 above ground and 54 below ground. The
Act has been supplemented by two elaborate series of regulations framed
under it by the Government of India ; one of these relates to coal mines and
one to other mines. In addition, rules have been framed by provincial
Governments relating to a number of matters falling within their purview.
Since 1923 two important changes have been made in the law.
The amending Act of 1928 provides that no mine shall be open more
than 12 hours in the 24, unless on a system of shifts, that shifts must
not exceed 12 hours and that they must not overlap. The regulations
 of March 1929 prohibit the emplovment of women wunderoround.


Existing Hours.

At the time of our visits to the mines, only the weekly limit
imposed by the Act of 1923 was in operation. A number of mines were
working on a system of shifts, but, in the main, hours were irregular and
cases came to our notice where the legal limit was exceeded. Indeed, the
registers in use up to two months before our visit made any effective
check extremely difficult. Mica mines and some iron mines in Bihar
and Orissa were normally working two 8 hour shifts and the Bawdwin
mine in Burma was working three such shifts. The manganese mines
in the Central Provinces and mines in Madras do not generally work
more than one shift in 24 hours. In the latter province hours were reported
 to vary between 74 and 9 per day, while the day’s work in the
manganese mines was said to average 7 to 8 hours.
Shifts in Collieries.

It appears likely, therefore, that the change inthe law will be
felt mainly in the coal mines where the worker, although not yet used tc
regular hours, will no longer be free to carry on the old system of
remaining for long spells underground. Thus, if the shift is from 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m, it may be 9 or 10 in the morning before all the workers are in
the mine, and we can well understand that late arrivals, being pieceworkers,
 may be reluctant to leave work with the other workers
of the shift as the Act enjoins. This will arise particularly in the case
of those who walk some distance from their homes. But, where
voluntary shifts have been worked, these difficulties have already been
overcome and, now that the law removes the possibility of dissatisfied
 workers avoiding the shift system by moving to another
mine, they should no longer be a serious obstacle to satisfactory working.


Registration of Hours,

The first necessity for the enforcement of proper hours is a satisfactory
 system of registration, for which forms are prescribed in the
rules made by local Governments. Prior to 1929 the form left much to be
desired, and in the salt mines of the Punjab and the manganese mines of
the Central Provinces we found practically no check on hours. In the