TRANSPORT SERVICES, 189 
has been passed, which should put the matter beyond doubt. Provin- 
cial Governments are now required to frame rules prohibiting the employ- 
ment of children under the age of 12 years upon the handling of goods 
“in any port subject to this Act”. Asin our view work of this kind is 
not suitable for children and a system of half-time working is not prac- 
ticable, we recommend that the minimum age should be raised to 14 
years. It should be the duty of the factory inspector to secure the due 
observance of the law in this respect. 
Tramways and Motor Buses. 
Tramways and motor buses are the remaining forms of transport 
with which we deal. Tramways have been in existence for a number of 
years, but are to be found only in a few of the more important cities, such 
as Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Rangoon, Cawnpore, Delhi and Karachi. 
In Calcutta and Bombay they give employment to about 6,000 and 
1,500 workers respectively ; in other centres the numbers are considerably 
smaller. The scope for their expansion is limited as there are compara- 
tively few cities in India with a population exceeding 200,000 persons, 
and most Indian towns are merely overgrown hamlets without any of the 
modern conveniences associated with town life in the West, The tramways 
thus employ only a small number of workers. The system of recruitment 
does not differ materially from that obtaining in the larger factories. 
Both in Calcutta and Bombay a considerable proportion, of the workers 
comes from outside, and the number of men applying for work is well 
In excess of the number of vacancies. Selection is made by a responsible 
officer of the company. The selected men are first required to pass a medical 
test as to their fitness and have then to spend about 6 weeks in a train- 
ng school. In Calcutta 65% of the workers have only five years’ 
service or less, while in Bombay the percentage is as highas76. The hours 
of work are generally fixed on the basis of an 8 hour day, but the actual 
ours worked by the traffic staff are longer, ¢.e., 9 or 10 in one cage. This 
is attributed to delays on the road and also, to a large extent, to the extra 
trips which have to be worked on account, of absenteeism, In Bombay 
the normal working days are six in the week ; in Calcutta the men are 
allowed a rest day with pay if they work for six days, but if they work on 
the 7th day, as do many of the up-country men, they receive an extra 
lay’s pay. Motor buses, unlike tramways, are a recent, development and 
sheir possibilities are very much greater. Fifteen years ago there was 
Cis an a vp a he motor ba i 0 be fond 
> ire countryside, wherever there are roads 
fit for motor traffic. The total length of metalled roads in British India 
18 now over 60,000 miles and road development may be expected to make 
rapid strides in the near future, For the most part the bus services in 
[ndia are the result of individual enterprise rather than the creation of 
large concerns ; many are carried on under a system of unbridled com- 
petition by numbers of small owners, The number of drivers and 
conductors employed in the various bus services throughout India must 
now be fairly large, but we received no evidence as to their hours of work 
or other conditions of employment.