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 unpleasant.
 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, indeed,
 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 temperatures,
 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 advantageous
 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 employers
 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 principle
 of the British Factories and Workshops Act, and to lay down that
a “ reasonable ” temperature must be maintained in all factories. Inspectors
 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 eribicism
 on the ground that the expense of reducing temperature to a
standard which might be regarded as reasonable for manual work micht