HOURS IN FACTORIES. 
in his earnings a serious matter. We proceed to examine these questions 
with special reference to the cotton textile industry, as this is by far the 
most important of the industries which still work most of their operatives 
for 60 hours a week. 
Nominal and Actual Hours. 
One of the points stressed before us by employers in this industry 
was the substantial difference between the nominal hours and the hours 
of actual work. The point emphasised was that, although in practically 
every case the operative is nominally working for 10 hours, he spends 
a considerable part of his time in the compound smoking, loitering or 
eating his meals. We were given a number of estimates of the hours of 
actual work during the day. The representatives of the Ahmedabad 
Millowners’ Association placed this at 7 hours, and the representatives 
of the Bombay Millowners’ Association at 8 to 8% hours. An Association 
of textile managers in Bombay estimated the extent of working time spent 
outside the factory at 2 hours daily, and the same figure was given by an 
agent of an up-country mill. In Cawnpore, the leading textile employers 
estimated actual hours of work at 8 to 8% daily. We are not in 
a position to confirm or to question the actual figures, but we do not doubt 
the main fact that a considerable portion of the day is not spent at the 
machine. In Bombay particularly, the visitor is struck by the large num- 
ber of men who can be found outside the factory building at almost any 
hour of the day. Thus meals are generally taken, not during the 
statutory interval, which is inconveniently placed for the purpose, 
but during the nominal working hours. During the unauthorised 
periods of rest work is carried on either by other operatives under- 
baking it in addition to their own, or by extra workers definitely engaged 
for the purpose. : 
Attitude of the Operative. 
It may seem that an appreciable reduction of hours could 
be achieved merely by the elimination of a portion of the unauthorised 
periods of rest. But it is stated by some observers that the worker 
prefers a long day with lax discipline to a shorter day with strict dis- 
cipline. It can be argued in support of this view that many of them 
come from agricultural surroundings and that the idea of giving concen- 
trated attention to work day by day for regular hours is foreign to them. 
There is an element of truth in this and, quite apart from the question of 
habit, few of the present operatives have the physique and training which 
would enable them to work with that degree of concentration which is de- 
manded in the West. It is indeed arguable that climate and other factors 
would always render a somewhat slower pace imperative in India. On the 
other hand, we have no doubt that it is impossible for the average opera- 
tive to remain at work regularly through a 10 hour day either in a cotton 
mill or in any other factory. The unauthorised intervals are a form of 
self-defence against over-work. It is significant that the statements made 
to us by employers regarding the great difference between nominal and 
actual hours of work were mainly confined to the cotton mill industry. We 
do not suggest that loitering is unknown elsewhere, but we are satisfied