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 sug- 
gestions 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 unwilling- 
ness to accept, either then or subsequently, any reduction in the work- 
ing hours. The matter of a voluntary trade agreement in respect of the 
working conditions of these children is believed still to be under consi- 
eration. 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 some- 
times 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.