CHAPTER III 
Hours of Work, Intervals, Overtime, ete. 
38. The form of the return used for the collection of the data regard- 
ng wage payments was drawn up on the basis of the muster-roll and, as 
such, did not procure any information regarding Hours of Work, 
Intervals, Overtime, etc. This information was, however, separately 
obtained from the mills selected for the Enquiry at each centre. Out of 
the 37 mills covered by the Enquiry, four mills—two in Bombay City and 
two in Ahmedabad—did not furnish data for the supplementary enquiry. 
In the case of two of these mills the managements had changed hands 
since 1926 and the new Agents of the mills stated that they were unable 
to supply the information called for. 
Hours or Work 
39." The Indian Factories Act limits the maximum hours of work 
{or men and women to 11 per day (section 28) or 60 per week (section 27), 
and for children to 6 per day [section 23 (c)]. In the Cotton Mills in 
Bombay City, daily hours of work were reduced from 12 to 10 for 
adults and from 6 or 7 to 5 for children after the strike of 1920. According 
to the information now furnished by the mills selected for the Enquiry 
the normal hours of work in the mills in Bombay City during the month 
of July 1926 were 10 per day for male operatives in all the seventeen 
mills which supplied information, while female operatives had a normal 
working day of 10 hours in nine mills, of 9} hours in one mill, 9 hours in 
hree mills, 8% hours in two mills and 8 hours in one mill. No children 
were employed in any of these mills. 
40. Four mills reported no variations from the normal. In one mill 
the hours of work for the Engine, Shafting and Boiler Departments 
2xceeded the normal and amounted to 11 per day and in the same mill 
women in the Winding and the Reeling Departments worked 93 hours 
per day. Another mill stated that the normal daily hours varied to 9 
out did not report the departments in which the variation occurred. 
The other mills reported variations of three kinds, viz., 8 hours, 8% hours 
and 9 hours per day respectively in certain departments and occupations. 
The normal daily hours of work for the Reeling and the Winding Depart- 
ments were 8 in the case of one mill, 8 in three mills, and 9 in the case of 
one mill. The Mechanics and the Electrical Departments and Depart- 
mental Fitters, Carpenters, Turners, Tinsmiths and other skilled workers 
as well as Roller Coverers, Sweepers, etc., were reported to have had a 
normal day of 84 hours in several mills. In some mills the normal hours 
were either 8} or 9 (mostly the latter) per day in the case of all or certain 
groups of operatives of the Mixing, Sizing, Warping, Folding, Dyeing, 
Bleaching,Calendering, Finishing, and Bundling and Baling Departments, 
and Cloth Godowns and Warehouses. The Carding and Spinning 
Sections were reported to have worked for 81 hours ner day in one mill.