Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXV. - Labour and the constitution

Collection:: Economics Books

488 OBSERVATIONS ON SIR VICTOR SASSOON’S MINUTE, definite recommendations. We have so acted because we conceived this to be the purpose for which we were appointed and out of a desire to avoid unnecessary public expenditure. On the question of hours in factories, Sir Victor Sassoon mis- conceives our argument. He deals throughout with the effect of a reduction of hours on the industry, but in the sentences he cites as the “ kernel ” of our argument we are dealing with the effect on the opera- tive; on the other hand he makes no reference to the passage which immediately follows, which is related to the question he discusses. So tar as the operative is concerned, the kernel of our argument is tm the statement that “ a reasonable amount of spare time away from the fac- bory is indispensable for the building up of citizenship, for the develop- ment of life, as opposed to mere existence, and for the maintenance of physical efficiency ”. On this vital question our colleague offers no observations, So far as the effect of a reduction on the cotton mill industry is concerned, Sir Victor Sassoon’s argument appears to be directed against the contention that, if hours are reduced with the existing methods of work, the operative will give the same output. We have nowhere put forward such a contention, nor is it part of our argument. While we believe that, when a shorter day hasbeen in operation for some time, there should be a higher production per hour in many mills and there might be a higher total production in some, the increase that the industry may expect in this direction is probably small compared to that which might be secured by resorting to shifts and by altering the methods of work within the mills. The evidence our colleague adduces, which he himself admits is not conclusive even on the point which he is endeavouring bo establish, has no bearing on the possibility of demanding higher stand- ards of working, and, although it cites recent examples of shift working, it makes no reference to their financial effects. The conclusion which he reaches is expressed in the words “ I feel that I am on sure ground in stating that, where a mill is now run on efficient lines, a reduction of hours will inevitably lead to diminished production”, This statement appears to us to beg the whole question for two reasons. In the first place, a mill cannot be regarded as run on efficient lines unless a reason- able standard of efficiency is demanded not merely from the management but also from the operatives, and we doubt if Sir Victor Sassoon, who has himself been a pioneer of efficiency methods, would contend that this is true of any large number of mills. But apart from this, the statement appears to confuse a reduction of hours for the operative with a reduction of hours for the industry. It is only the former that we have advocated ; and in the very instances which our colleague cites, the mills, although they shortened the hours for the operatives on one or both shifts, secured a substantial increase in the total working hours. Our colleague, in suggesting that we have fallen into a psychologi- cal error, states that “the chief difficulty lies in the complications caused by the differing climatic conditions in this country ” and suggests that “ hours of work which might appear unendurable in one province might be

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