Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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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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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter V. - Working conditions in factories

Collection:: Economics Books

WORKING CONDITIONS IN FACTORIES, 37 Temperatures. In nearly every part of India there are long periods when the climatic conditions render physical toil particularly difficult and un- pleasant. This is especially true of factory work. In many factories the temperature Win the hot weather is higher than that of the air outside, and the air movement is less ; In a number of factories the difference is marked. A large number, probably the majority, of factory owners make no endeavour to mitigate the discomfort, to use a mild word, which the hot weather brings to their operatives. Some factories, in- deed, suggest that they might have been constructed by cold weather visitors, for they show little respect for the sun in their orientation and elevation. Apart from the regulations relating to humidification and cooling power in cotton textile mills, there is no official control of tem- peratures, nor is any such control possible under the present law. Recent experience has indicated that the reduction of excessive temperatures, or the minimising of their effect, is in many cases easier than is generally supposed. Mr T. Maloney in his official report on Humidification in Indian Cotton Mills pointed out in 1923 that appreciable reductions could be effected by comparatively inexpensive means, and suggested that reductions would prove profitable to the industry as well as advan- tageous to the operatives. The white-washing of roofs, the spraying of roofs with water, and the provision of electric fans, or even small devices attached to the shaft, can often be made without undue expense. Some employers have found that these methods have brought a reward not merely in the greater contentment of the operatives, but in improved attention to work and increased production. We consider that there is room for much more work in this direction and recommend to em- ployers a study of what has been done already. We do not, of course, suggest that improvements of this character should be regarded solely in the light of their financial results ; in many cases the operatives have a right to demand that the present conditions should not continue. even if imorovements are not likely to be remunerative, Official Proposals. It is desirable that, where employers are unwilling to do so of their own accord, there should be power to insist on reasonable measures being taken to reduce excessive temperatures. This has been generally recognised for some time past, but the proposals made by Government have failed to secure approval. In a Bill introduced in 1925 to amend the Factories Act, the Government of India proposed to follow the prin- ciple of the British Factories and Workshops Act, and to lay down that a “ reasonable ” temperature must be maintained in all factories. Ins- pectors were to be empowered to specify the measures necessary to reduce the temperature to reasonable limits and to enforce the adoption of these methods. This proposal was rejected during the passage of the Bill through the Legislative Assembly ; and it seems to us to be open to eri- bicism on the ground that the expense of reducing temperature to a standard which might be regarded as reasonable for manual work micht

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