AN EIGHT HOURS BILLI 


in the form of an 

Amendment of the Factory Acts, 

with f~brther provisions for the improvement of the conditions of labor. 

PUBLISHED BY 

THE FABIAN SOCIETY. 


'' U1![ettered individual competition is not a p1·inciple to which the 1·egulatiun 
"of industry may be entmsted." (The Right Honorable J OHN 1\IonLEl', l\1. 1:'., 
in " Life of Cobden," vol. 1, ch. xiii. p. 298.) 

Price One Penny. 

Tq be obtained of the Secretm·y, 180 Portsdown Road, W.; of the Fnethought 
Publishing Company, 63 Fleet Street, E .G. ; (~of TV. R eeves , 
185 F leet St1·eet, E .G. 


avian g>ociefl?. 


(ESTABLISIIED 1883.) 

" Fo1· the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did most patiently, 1ehen 
" wan·ing against Hannibal, though many censw·ed his delays; but when the time 
" comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or yow· waiting will be in vain, and 

" fruitless." 

PARTICULARS as to membership of the Society may be obtained on application 
to the Secretary, 180 Portsdown Road, N.w·. 
TUE LECTURE LIST, containing the names of members of the Societywilling to deliver lectures or open discussions, will be sent free on application 

to the Lecture Secretary, SIDNEY ·WEBB, 4 Park Village East, N. W. The 
lectures are in all cases given gratuitously; and within reasonable distances 
no travelling expenses are charged. 

"FABIAN TRACTS." 

The undermentioned are still in print, and may be oblained from the 
addresses mentioned on the preceding page:No. 
1. Why are the Many Poor? 6 for 1d., or 1/-per 100. 
No. 5. Facts for Socialists ... ... 1d. each; 9d. , doz. 
No.7. Capital and Land ... 1d. , 9d. , , 
No.8. Facts for Londoners ... 6d. , 4/6 , , 

[An exhaustive collection of statistical and other facts relating 
to every department of ll!etropolitan affairs, with 
suggestions for ?'efoTm un Socialist p1·inciples; containing 
full paTticulaTs of London's govemment, gas, water, 
tTamways, hospitals, 1·ents, mtes, maTkets, docks, ~·c.] 

"FABIAN ESSAYS IN SOCIALISM." 

A full exposition of modern English Socialism in its latest and maturest 
phase. The book consists of eight monographs by Socialists who are known 
as practical speakers, writers, and political workers. The relation of Socialism 
to economic and moral science is dealt with by G. BERNAHD SHAW and SYDNEY 
OLIVIER; its evolution, as traced in the history of politics and i11dustry, by 
SIDNEY \YEBB and WILLIAM CLAllKE; its effect on politics in the immediate 
future, by HUBERT BLAND and G. BERNARD SHAW; its consequences upon 
property and industry by GRAliA)l vVALLAS and ANNIE BESANT. The practical 
steps by which the transition to Social Democracy is likely to be completed 
are the subject of a separate essay. The frontispiece and decorations of 
the cover are from designs by \VALTER CRANE and l\1AY l\1orm1s. The book 
has been printed by 1\lr. ARTHUR BoNNER, of 34 Bouverie Street, E.C., and 
bound by Messrs. JAMES BuRN & Co., of Kirby Street, Hatton Garden. The 
character of these houses as employers of labor will bear the strictest enquiry. 

Price, SIX SmLLINGS; or, di1·ectjrom the Secreta1·y,fo1· cash, 4s. 6d.,postage 4~d. 

The utmost care is taken to secw·e accuracy in the tracts ancl other zmulications 
of the Fabian Society. 'l'he author,, awl illustrators yiue their ;,crviceo yratuiloll.'l!J, 
and have no pccuniaTy interest in the soles. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE Bill submitted in this pamphlet has been drafted by the Political 
Committee of the Fabian Society with the object of embodying in precise and 
Parliamentary terms certain familiar demands for the democratic regulation 
of industry. The Committee have expressed in its clauses only proposals for 
legislative reform which are plainly within the immediate scope of practical 
politics. Their aim has been, first, to supply both advocates and opponents of 
the limitation of the Working Day with a model of an Eight Hours Bill 
which may serve as a test for Parliamentary candidates, and as an illustration 
of the method in which our existing political machinery can be applied to enforce 
such limitation; and, secondly, to formulate amendments most pressingly 
required for the extension of the benefits of Acts already protecting and order-
Labor for the common good, and for ensuring their efficiency where their 
provisions have been found to fail. 

The Bill, accordingly, is divided into two Parts. The first, which is concerned 
exclusively with the regulat.ion of hours, is largely (like the second) a 
development and amendment of Jaws already in force. But while it enacts 
a limitation of hours in certain employments already regulated by the 
State, and enables such limitation to be imposed in all privileged undertakings 
and monopolies, it undertakes no more, with regard to other employments,
than to guarantee to the workers the power to enforce by a similar restriction, 

out the need of any further Jaw-making, as soon as they shall themselves 
desire to do so. 

The notes which are appended to the various clauses are confined for the 
part to references to existing laws and precedent~, and to explanations of 
ciples followed in novel provisions. No attempt has been made to 
the general arguments for the restriction of hours of labor or for 
terlfPr.enr'" with the arrangements of employers. Such an undertaking is 
of the object of this pamphlet. Its intention will be fulfilled if it 
a formulation of this policy sufficiently precise and practical to render 
for "business men," officials, or politicians to evade the issues 
on the ground of their vagueness or Utopianism. The general arguents 
on the subject may be gathered from the publications named on page 16. 

No uniform Act of Parliament can deal with all occupations, and this Bill, 

it became the law of England, would not of itself secure an eight hours' day 

every worker. But if this Bill proposes as much as can forthwith be done 

law, and if what it proposes can all forthwith be done, legislation founded 

it might claim an honorable place in the file of industrial enactments, 

as with all such legislation, its actual working can alone teach what is the 

direction for further application of its principles. 


( 4 ) 
A BILL 

entitled an Act to 

AMEND THE FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1878, 

AND TO PREVENT EXCESSIVE HOURS OF LABOR. 

PRELIMINARY. 

1. This Act may be cited as the Hours of Labor Act, 1889; 
and shall, except as regards the sixth section, be read and construed 
as one with the Factory aud Workshop Act, 1878, and the 
Acts amending the same. 
The whole Bill applies, like the existing Factory Acts, to Scotland and Ireland, 
as well as to England and Wales.

The sixth clause, relating to mines, will more conveniently be incorporated i~ 
the Mines' Regulation Acts, so as to be enforced by the Mine Inspectors. 

The definitions of terms are given in the Factory Act of 1878. 

2. This Act shall come into operation on the first of January 
1890. 
PART I. 

The Normal Day and Week. 

3. In contracts for the hire of labor or the employment of personal service in any capacity, a day shall, unless otherwise specified 
be deemed to mean a period of eight working hom's, aud a week shal 
be deemed to mean a period of forty -eight working hours. 
This is already law in various American States, such as New York, Illiooi 
California and Wisconsin. In others, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, :New Hampshir 
Rhode Island, Maine, Michigan and Nebraska, ten hours iR the normal day. (SeFirst Annual Report of Federal Commissioner of Labor, 1886.) 'ro thes~ mrty b P adrlc 
Florida (ten hours), Indiana anrl Connecticut (eight hours), see Foreign Ollie 

'Report. C-5866.

The clause would not prevent agreements to work for a longer period : hen 

it will, in itself, only be useful as declaring the public opinion as to the prop 

maximum hours of labor, and as a means of thereby bringing about a voluotar 

shortening of hours where they exceed this maximum.

"Overtime" would therefore not be univetsally prohibited, but the remain in 

clauses of the bill make no distinction between "time" and ·•overtime,' ' a.nd wbe 

they apply, " overtime" will be forbidt.len, except in the emergencies provit.led f 

in clauses 4, 5 and 6. 

For Government Servants. 

4; No person employed under the Crown in the United Ki 
dom in any department of the public service, other thau rnili 
naval, or by any county council, municipal corporation, vestry, 
sanitary authority, school boa.rd, boa.rc1 of guardians of the poor, <1 
or harbor trustees, district board of works, district council, imp1lll<.mt collllllissioucrs, comrniosioners of oewers, of public librarieo, 


( 5 ) 
of baths :wd wash-houses, or by any other public administrative 
authority, shall, except in case of special unforeseen emergency, be 
employed for a longer period than eight hours in any one day, nor 
for more than forty-eight hours in any one week: provided that in 
cases of public emergency a Secretary of State shall have power,
by order publisheu in the London Gazette, to suspend, for such employments 
and for such period as may be specified in such order, the 
operation of this section. 

Any public officer ordering or requiring any person in publicemployment to remain at work for a period in excess of either of 
those herein specified, except in case of special unforeseen emergency, 
shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds. 

Any public authority, or the principal officer of any departmentof the public service, employing or permitting to be employed by 
reason of special unforeseen emergency, any person in excess of 
either of the periods herein specified, shall report the fact within 
seven clays to a Secretary of State, and a complete list of such cases 
shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament once in each year. 

This is already law in the States of New York and California: but in the 
former case ''overtime" is permitted. (Firat .Annual R eport of Federal Commiaaioner 
of Labor, 1886: see also C-5866.) United States ::ltatutes, c. 43, sec. 3738, enacts it 
for laborers employed on Government works, in navy yards, &c. (see p. 56 of C5866). 
Maryland law limits the working day in the State tobacco warehouses to 
ten hours. (p. 55 of C-5866.)

Provision is made in the clause for "overtime" in case of "special unforeseen 
emergency," but every such case must be reported and published. In case moreover 
of " public emergency," as in the existing .Factory Act, a Secretary of State 
will be able to suspend tbe operation of the whole section, but the order must be 
published. At present he has power to exempt from the existing Acts Government 
factories (see sec. 93 of 41 Vic. c. 16); and this power is frequently exercised 
without the knowledge of the public. 

Besides preventing excessive hours in any one department, the clause will also 
put a stop to the growing practice which prevails in the Post Office, Inland Revenue 
and Customs Departments, of taking ou, as casual workers or "glut men," persons 
who have already done a day's work in one of the other departments. This re-
engagement of exhausted workers is obviously a fraud on the public. 

For Railway Servants. 

5. No person employed wholly or mainly to work railway signalsor points shall be employed continuously for more than eight hours, 
nor for more than forty-eight hours in any one week. 
No person employed as engine driver, fireman, guard, or wholly 
or mainly in shunting, on any railway, shall be employed continuously 
for more than twelve hours, nor for more than forty-eight hours in anyone week. 

The General Manager of any railway company employing or 
permitting to be employed any person in contravention of this section 
shall be liable on conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one 
hundred pounds for each such contravention. 

Provided that in any case in which the employment of persons to 
work railway signals or points, or as engine drivers, firemen, or guards,
or in shunting, for longer periods than is permitted by this section is 
necessary by reason of some special and unforeseen emergency 


( 6 ) 
necessary for the public safety, it shall be lawful for a Secretary of 
State, on a report made within seven days by the General Manager 
or Secretary of the Railway Company acting in contravention of this 
section, to direct that no legal proceedings shall be taken in the case 
of the particular contravention so reported. 

A list of the cases in which any such direction has been issued 
by a Secretary of State under this section shall be laid before both 
Houses of Parliament once in each year. 

The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants strongly supports the immediate 
restriction by law of their present excessive hours. Particulars of their 
over-work are given in the official return, H.L. 33 of 1889 (6d.). It is generallyadmitted that considerations of public safety, especially in the case of signalmen 
and pointsmen, clearly warrant prompt public intervention; and the Railways' 
Regulation Act of 1889 (52 and 53 Vic. c. 57, sec. 4), recognises this principle by 
requiring an annual return of cases in which any man has been continuously employed 
for more than a number of hours to be specified by the Board of Trade. 

This clause will only apply to certain classes of railway servants, in whose 
cases the consideration of public safety is most prominent. Other railway servants 
can obtain a legal limitation of their hours of labor under clause 7 (tradeoption).

A precedent for the legal limitation of the hours of railway servants is given 
by the State of Minnesota, where the law forbids the employment of locomotive 
engineers or firemen for more than eighteen hours in one day! (Firat Annual Report 
of Federal Commissioner of Labor, 1886, p. 469.) 

For Miners. 

6. No person shall be employed under ground for hire in any 
mine for a longer period than eight hours in any one day, nor than 
forty-eight hours in any one week. 
The period of employment under ground in a mine shall, for the 
purpose of this section, be deemed to be the whole period from the 
time of leaving the surface of the ground to descend the mine, to the 
time of return to the surface of the ground after cessation of work. 

The manager of any mine employing or permitting to be employed 
any person in contravention of this section, shall, on conviction 
thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds for 
each such contravention. 

In any cases in which, through accident or other unforeseen 

emergency, any person may be employed underground for a longer 

period than is prescribed by this section, a special report may,

within seven days thereof, be made to a Secretary of State by the 

manager of the mine, and a Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, 

thereupon direct that no prosecution shall be instituted in respect of 

the particular offence so reported. 

A list of the cases in which such direction has been issued 

by a Secretary of State under this section shall be laid before both 

Houses of Parliament once in each year. 

This section shall be read as one with, and be deemed to be in


corporated in, the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, and the Metal


liferous Mines Act, 1872. 

Labor in mines is already subject to a special code of law, dating from 1842; 
hnt boys of twelve work underground (half time), and youths and men are not protc, 
terl from having to remain at work under ground for long hours. The coal 


( 7 ) 
hewers, in Northumberland, Durham and the East of Scotland, have already 

brought down their working hours; but elsewhere they still often work much 

longer than eight hours under ground; and the accessory workers in the mine 

are usually even less fortunate. The coal miners are practically unanimous in 

favor of the "eight hours movement": their National Conference at Birming


ham in October, 1889, passsd the resolution in its favor by by 93 to 13 (see Times 

report, October 12, 1889), and was cordially in favor of Mr. Cunninghame Graham's 

bill. A clause limiting the hours of work under ground to eight per day was pro


posed in Committee of the House of Commons on the " Coal Mines Regulation Act, 

1887," and was only rejected by 105 votes (see Hansard, vol. 319, pp. 899-912), 

although the "labor members'' declined to vote in the absence of a "mandate." 

Since then the Trades Union Congress has voted by a large majority ''an Eight

Hours Bill for Miners" (Times report of Dundee meeting, 7th September, 1889). 

The clause will not apply to Corni~h or other miners not employed for hire, 

who work as "adventurers" on their own account. 

The legal limitation of the hours of adult labor in mines is not without precedent. 
In Austria no shift may exceed twelve hours; in France the 1848 legal 
maximum of twelve hours is fully effective as regards mines (see C-5866, pp. 2 and 
17); in the United States the Maryland Act of 1886 fixes the maximum hours of 
miners at ten per day," unless by special contract" (p. 466 of Fint Annual Reportof Federal Commissioner of Labor, 1886; compare p. 55 of C-5866). 

By trade option. 

7. Where it is proved to the satisfaction of a Secretary of State 
that a majority of the persons employed throughout the United 
Kingdom in any one trade or occupation are in favor of the maximum 
hours of labor per week in that trade or occupation being fixed bylaw, or, if already so fixed, being altered by law, he may by order 
made under this part of the Act declare a maximum number of hours 
per day or per week for such trade or occupation, and after the expiration 
of thTee months from the date of publication of such order 
any person employed in contravention thereof shall be deemed to 
be employed in contravention of this Act, and the person so employing 
him or permitting him to be so employed shall be liable on 
conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for each such 
contravention. 
A Secretary of State shall have power, in order to satisfy himself 
of the desire of the persons employed in any trade or occupation 
as aforesaid, to cause a public enquiry to be held in the principaldistrict or districts in which such trade or occupation is carried on, 
or to cause a poll to be taken of the persons employed in such trade 
or occupation, or to take such other means as he may deem fit . 

.For the purpose of this section, persons employed in any trade 
or occupation shall be taken to mean all persons employed for hire, 
or actually performing labor in any capacity, in such trade or occupation, 
whether already subject to the provisions of the Factory and 
Workshop Act, 1878, or of this Act, or not. 

No order made in pursuance of this section shall declare a 
maximum number of hours of labor per week in excess of sixty nor 
fewer than forty-jive.

It shall be the duty of a Secretary of State to institute an 
enquiry, in such manner as he may deem fit, with a view to the 
consideration of the expediency of making an order under this partof the Act, in each of the following cases; viz. 


( 8 ) 
(a) 
Whenever he shall have reason to believe that excessive 
hours of labor prevail in any trade or occupation. 
(b) 
Whenever he shall be requested to do so by the Committee 
or other Executive body of any duly registered trades 
union, or, in the case of there being no duly registered 
trades union in the trade or occupation in respect of 
which the application is made, by the committee or 
other executive body of any trades council, trades 
union congress, or other association or federation of 
trades unions. 
Provided that a Secretary of State shall not, except for special 
reasons approved by him, institute any such enquiry within a 
period of twelve months from the date of the holding of any previousenquiry in respect of the same trade or occupation. 

This clause enables the legal limitation of the hours of labor to be introduced 
in any trade as soon as a majority of the workers desire it. It provides for the 
case in which a majority of the workers are compelled to work against their wish, 
by the obstinacy or disloyalty of the minority, which prevents an effective strike. 
In such a case. as John Stuart Mill pointed out (Principle• of Political Economy, 
book v., ch. xi., e12, p. 581-2), the interference of law is required. On similar 
grounds Mill supported the continuance of the legal enforcement of a weekly day of 
rest (Mill's Liberty. p. 53, cheap edition). The principle has received the endorsment 
of Professor Henry Sidgwick (Principles of Political Economy, book iii., ch. ii., 

p. 422, 1883). 
The clause could not practically be put in force in any trade until a prolonged 
discu~sion bad convinced a considerable majority of the workers of its advantage;
and Ly that time the minority would hBve become prepared to acquiesce in the law, 
and the employers would have been able to make arrangements to avoid any inconvenience 
from the change. 

Tbe clause provides that the laborers, and all other workers in the trade, 
should be able to take part in the decision and share in the benefit. By this means 
the advantages which the skilled and organised workers can now sometimes obtain 
by combination, would be extended to their less fortunate colleagues.

Tbe employer, if actually performing labor in the trade, is not excluded from 
participation in the decision. 
The benefits of the clause are available for the workers in the occupations 
specially provided for in clausP.s 4, 5, 6 and 8, if they like to exercise their option. 

By providing that the initiative may be taken by the workers themselves ap


proaching the Home Secretary through some representative organization of their 

own, the clause will promote t.he organization of labor, and make the aid of the 

State practically conditional upon t.he workers first using their opportunities of self-

help, as far as is either possible or-having regard to the interests of tbe rest of the 

community-socially expedient. At the same time it permits the Home Secretary 

to step in to the relief of those exceptionally unfortunate workers who, by their 

condition or tbe circumstances of their employment, are hindered from associating 

for tbe purpose of discussing their position. 

The final decision, which must necessarily be given to some public officer, is 

left with a Secretary of State (meaning the Home Secretary), because his subordi


nation to the House of Commons affords, at present, the only practicable means of 

exercising public supervision and control over the award; and because he is the 

officer entrusted with the general administration of the Factory Acts. 

'T'here are various precedents, besides those cited in the notes to clauses 4, 
5 and 8, for the legal limitation of the hours of adult male workers. Austrian 
law limits the hours in factories tn eleven per day for men as well as women, with 
certain exceptional extensions: Hungary enforces meal times and relief for night 
~hif~s. ·. Tbe French law of 1848, prescribing a universal maximum of twelve hours, 
~s still in force, I hough mo.Jifitd hy Imp~rial Decrees: Ly Circular of 25 Xov. 1885 
1t was held lo apply 1o .dl f«clorirs , mploying power, and having lwcut.v bands in 
any one shed. Switzerlanil forbids work for more tbnn cit vcro hours a duy, lt:~M un 


( 9 ) 
hour for meals, with permission to apply for special exceptions not exceeding a 
fortnight. (Foreign Office Reports, C-5866). The legal prohibition of labor on 
Sundays is very general. The labor of adult women is usually specially regulated. 

It is now widely admitted that there is no insuperable objection in principle 
1o regulating adult male labor. Jevons (late Professor of Politiral Economy at 
University College, Loudon) sums up the matter in his book" The State in Relation 
to Labor" (p. 65), referring to the incipient movement for an" bJight Hours Bill." 
''I see nothing, therefore, to forbid the State interfering in the matter if it could be 
"clearly shown that the existing customs are injurious to health, and that there is 
"no other probable remedy. Neither principle, experience or precedent in other 
"cases of legislation, prevents us from contemplating the idea of State interference 
"in such circumstances." 

By local option for monopolies. 

8. The Council for the administrative county of London, and 
elsewhere the sanitary authority, shall have power to make, and 
from time to time to amend, bye-laws restricting the hours of labor 
of persons employed for hire in or in connection with any docks, 
harbors, tramways, telephones, markets, establishments for the supply 
of electric light, or of electric or hydraulic power, gasworks and 
waterworks, within the area under its jurisdiction, whether owned 
by a public authority or not. 
Any bye-laws made in pursuance of this section shall be submitted 
for confirmation to a Secretary of State, and shall, when 
confirmed by him, be deemed to be incorporated in this Act: provided 
that no such bye-law shall fix a maximum number of hours of 
labor in excess of sixty nor fewer than forty-five per week. 

Local monopolies, where still administered for private profit, are clearlysubjects for local regulation, and no fear of foreign competition need hinder the 
legal limitation of the hours of labor in connection with them. Where they are 
already administered by a public authority, clause 4 will apply. 

As regards tramways and elevated railways, a precedent is afforded by the law 
of the State of New York, which limits the working hours to ten per day. New 
Jersey has a legal maximum of twelve hours, "with reasonable time for meals.'' 
The limit in Maryland is twelve hours pP.r day.

Glasgow Corporation, in leasing out its tramway lines, prescribes ten hours as 
the maximum average work per day (and see note to clause 11). 

In all new enterprises, under Pa1·liamentary powers. 

9. No person or company, other than those to whom section 5 
or 6 of this Act is applicable, hereafter obtaining statutory powersor privileges of any description by private or local Act of Parliament 
shall employ any person for hire for more than forty -eight hours in 
any one week, and this section shall be deemed to be incorporated 
in every subsequent private or local Act of Parliament granting 
statutory powers or privileges of any description to any such person 
or company that employs labor of any description for hire, and to 
apply to all the operations of the said person or company under 
statutory powers or privileges, whether by that or any other Act. 
Any person, or the principal manager or other chief officer of 
any company, employing or allowing to be employed any person in 
contravention of this section shall be liable to a tine not exceeding 
one hundnd pounds for each such contravention. 

_Parliament may fairly determine the conditions upon which it will accord 
spectal powers or privilege~ !Jy Act of Parliament. Mines and Railways arc dealt 


( 10 ) 
with in clauses 5 and 6, and are therefore excluded from the operation of this 
clause. 

In view of the diverse occupations and localities to which the clause will apply, 
it seems better to enforce only the weekly maximum, so as to allow some daily 
latitude where convenient. 

For young persons. 

10. No child or young person under fifteen years of age shall be 
employed for hire in any trade or occupation whatsoever for more 
than five hours in any one day nor for more than thirty hours in anyone week. 
The provisions of sections 12, 14, 16 and 23 to 25, inclusive, of 
the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, relating to children employed 
in factories or workshops, shall apply also to children and to young 
persons under fifteen yea.rs of age, employed for hire in any trade or 
occupation whatsoever; and such young persons shall, for the purposes 
of the Elementary Education Acts and the Technical Education 
Act, 1889, be deemed to be children of school age. 

Section 26 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, is herebyrepealed. 

This clause makes the ''half-time'' law, now applying nominally to children 
under fourteen, apply also to those under fifteen. It also abolishes the exception 
recognised by sec. 26 of the Factory Act of 1878, by which children between 
thirteen and fourteen can go to work ''full time,'' and otherwise escape the protection 
of the Act, provided they have passed a prescribed educational standard (at 
present, Standard IV. See the First Schedule to the Act 43 and 44 Vic. c. 23.)

The repeal of this exception, and the raising of the ''half-time'' age, are 
strongly urged by medical and educational authorities. France, the Colony of 
Victoria, and the States of Maine and New J ersey require, at any rate, partial 
education up to fifteen; Mass!<chusetts, 'New Hampshire and Pennsylvania up to 
sixteen years of age (see note to clause 13). 


( 11 ) 
PART II. 

11. The Council for the Administrative County of London, 
and elsewhere the sanitary authority, shall have power, if deemed 
necessary for the proper enforcement of the laws relating to the 
employment of labor or to public health, to make and from time to 
amend, bye-laws providing for any of the following objects, viz. : 
(1) 
The compulsory registration of all premises in which 
persons are employed for hire, otherwise than exclusively 
in domestic service. 
(2) 
The inspection of all such premises by any medical officer 
of health, sanitary officer, or any inspector either appointed 
under any Act relating to the employment of 
labor, or specially for the purpose. 
(3) 
The prevention of over-crowding in premises in which 
persons are employed for hire. 
(4) 
The provision of proper sanitary arrangements in such 
premises.
(5) 
The prevention of excessive hours of labor in occupationsin which the provisions of Part I. of this Act may not 
be applicable or effective. 
(6) 
The prevention of public injury or inconvenience in connection 
with the employment of labor in or about docks, 
harbors, rivers, tramways, telephones, establishments 
for electric lighting or for the supply of electric or 
hydraulic power, gasworks and waterworks. 
Any bye-laws made in pursuance of this section shall be submitted 
for confirmation to a Secretary of State, and shall, when 
confirmed by him, be deemed to be incorporated in this Act. 

The council for the administrative county of London, and elsewhere 
the sanitary authority, shall have power to appoint local 
inspectors, clerks and servants for the enforcement of any such bye-
laws, and any inspector so appointed shall possess the same rightsand powers as an inspector under any of the Acts relating to the 
employment of labor. 

The power to make bye-laws, subject to confirmation by the Home Office,
Local Government Board, or Board of Trade, is already widely exercised by nearlyall local authorities. It affords a means of meeting the diverse neces~ities imposed 
by local circumstances, without the objections often felt to undue interference from 
a central government office. Each locality can, within certain limits, legislate for 
itself as it pleases. 

Hardly any of the preceding clauses will practically affect East London, where 
the extension of the Factory Acts is most needed. The special circumstances of this 
and other densely crowded aggregations of small workshops, require special treatment, 
which it would be inconvenient and unnecessary to apply to the whole kingdom. 
Hence it is proposed to allow the County Council to make bye-laws and 
provide its own additional inspectors. 

The kind of bye-laws which should be made would be such regulations as are 
proposed by Mr. Charles Booth (Life and Labor in East London, p. 498-9) for the 
compulsory gratuitous registration of all premises where labor is employed for hire, 
and of all employers ; rules against overcrowding and insanitary conditions such as 
already exist in the usual bye-laws for dwelling houses; and provisions ensuring 


( 12 ) 
frequent and systematic visitation of every workshop. Proposals of this nature 
will, it may be anticipated, certainly be made in Report or the House of Lords' 
Committee on the Sweating System. 

In the case of monopolies such as tramways, the conditions impORed by the 
Glasgow Corporation in leasing their lines might be taken aa a guide. They are as 
follows:


"Only such persons as can satisfy the Magistrates' Committee that they have 
"a thorough knowledge of the city ani! of the duties of a car conductor shall be 
"JicenPed as such. The working day of conductors and drivers shall not exceed 

•' an average of ten hours. The conductors of cars shall be provided with proper 
"uniform, consisting of tunie, trousers and cap, and no conductor shall be permitted"to be on duty without uniform. A uniform greatcoat shall be provided for the 
"winter months. No conductor, driver, or other officer shall be permitted on a 
"car unless his clothing is in good order and his whole person clean and tidy.
"The lessees shall provide proper sanitary conveniences for the drivers and con" 
ductors at places where these are requisite, and as may be agreed on with the 
"corporation.''
The "sanitary authority" which would have, outside London, the power to 
makes such bye-laws, is, in municipal boroughs, tbe town council, and in rural 
districts (where the power would hardly ue needed), usually a committee of the 
Board of Guardians. But the power would, in tbe latter caaes, be transferred to the 
new elective "district councils .. as soon as they are established. 

12. It shall be the duty of the occupier of any factory or workshop 
in which any labor whatsoever is employed for hire, to specifyin a notice affixed in a prominent position in the workshop or factory 
the time of beginning and quitting work on each day of the week, 
the times allowed for meals, and, if children or young persons under 
fifteen are employed, whether they are employed on the system of 
morning and afternoon sets or of alternate days.
A copy of every such notice and of every alteration thereof shall 
be sent by post in a registered letter or delivered by the employer to 
an inspector within seven days of its publication, and shall be open 
to inspection at the Home Office by any person at any time when 
that office is open for official business. . 

A factory or workshop in which no such notice is affixed as 
herein specified, shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with 
this Act. 

Provided that nothing in this section shall affect the provisionsof section 19 of the Factory and Workshop Act relating to the employment 
of women or children. 

This provision merely cxteuds the requirement of the existing Factory Acts 
to all workshops. It does little more than afford a means of bringing public opinion 
effectively to bear on those employers who make their men work excessive hours. 

Incidentally, however, it will cause the regi~tration of all workshops. a reform often 
called for by the inspectors. At prt sent all factories, and all workshops employing 
women and children, have to be registered, but not workshops employing men only. 

13, Notwithstanding anything contained in the sections 61 and 
93 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, such provisions of that 
Act, and of any Acts amending the same, as relate to the cleanliness, 
or to the freedom from effiuvia, or to the overcrowding, or ventilation 
of a factory or workshop, or to the sending notice of accidents, shall 
apply to all workshops other than those specified in clause (a) of 
section 61 of the said Act. 


( 13 ) 
At present the sanitary provisions of the Factory Acts do not apply to workshops 
where onl_y adult men are employed; and the Factory Inspector is therefore not 
able to enforce them. Similar provisions already exist, however, in the Public Health 
Act, 1875, which applies to all workshops (by sec. 101 of 41 Vic. c. 15); but these are 
enforcable only by the local sanitary authority, whose duty is often very imperfectlyperformed. 'l'he proposed clause (together with clause 16) practically imposes no 
new restrictions, but merely facilitates the enforcement of the existing law. 

The exception continued in force, under clause (a) of sec. 61. is that applying 
to "domestic workshops," where ao occupation is carried on at home by members 
of the family only. This hardly requires any other regulation than those applied 
by the Public Health Acts and the Elementary Education Acts. 

14. No child under twelve years of age shall be employed for 
hire, in any capacity or for any period, in any' trade or occupationwhatsoever, except as provided in section 3 of the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children Act, 1889, which shall apply to children under 
twelve years of age; and, except as therein provided, any parentcausing or permitting his or her child under twelve years of age to be 
employed for hire ; and any person employing such child for hire 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 
The law at present forbids employment of children under ten in any workshopor factory (41 Vic., c. 16, sec. 20), or in any theatre except by special licence of 
petty sessions (52 and 53 Vic., cap. 44, sec. 3). Persons under eleven, fourteen, 
sixteen and eighteen respectively may not work in certain dangerous occupations 
(see note to clause 15 of this bill); and no child under twelve may work in any mine 
under ground (49 and 50 Vic., c. 40, sec. 4). The Education Acts forbid, moreover, 
the employment of any child under ten except under special circumstances 
(see 43 and 44 Vic. c. 23, sec. 5) ; and aim at the prohibition of child labor under 
fourteen, unless the child possesses adequate elementary education. 

Nevertheless, so effective are the exceptions that children over ten work as soon 
as they have been five years at school or have passed an educational staQ.dard fixed 
by the local school board or school attendance committee. In order to provide cheap 
child labor, this is usually fixed at Standard IV. , or even III., which children often 
pass at nine years old. The only restriction in force is the "half-time ·· for 
children under thirteen or fourteen. 

Further prohibition of child labor is urgently called for on educational and 
medical grounds. Eni!land has, on this point, l~t her lead iu labor legislation. 
Germany and Hungary absolutely forbid it under twelve; Switzerland forbids it 
(in factories) under fifteen (Act of 1877); and France under fifteen unless tbe child 
has received sufficient primary education. (Report of Royal Commission on Education, 
1888, p. 391) . 

In Victoria the law (49 Vir., No. 862 sec. 30) is similar to that of France : in 
New Zealand no child under twelve may be employed in a factory (Act No. 23 of 
1881, sec. 4); in Ontario and Quebec no boy under twelve and no girl under fourteen 
mav work in a fac~;)ry (47 Vic., c. 39, sec. 1; Quebec Code, sec. 3026). 

In ihc United Statrs, the employment of children under twelve is prohibited in 
Pennsylvania (p. 57 of C-5866) (for textile and paper factories the minimum is 
thirteen); in Indiana (as regards six specified industries) ; in Kansas; in Massa. 
chusetts "during the days when the public schools are Ill sessiOn"; in New Jersey 
(where the minimum age is even fourteen for girls as regards any workshop or 
manufactory); and in Ohio. In nearly all the States further restrictions are imposed 
unless the child is well ed ucated. Thus, in Colorado and Kansas, no boyunder sixteen may work in a mine unless he can rP.ad and write: in Maine and 
New Jersey, no child under fifteen; in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, 
no chiltlren under sixt<een may be employed unle~s they have been to school 
durin,; a certain portion of the preceding year. (First Annual Report of the Federal 
Commissioner of Labor, 1886.)

Up to the ag~ of tweiVl', at lillY rate, the future citizen should be protecterl 
fro>n toil. 


( 14 ) 
15. No person under sixteen years of age shall be employed for 
hire in any of the occupations or places specified in the First 
Schedule to the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878; but nothing in 
this section shall be deemed to permit the employment in such 
occupations or places of young persons over sixteen years of age 
where such employment is now prohibited. 
The dangerous or unhealthy occupations specified in the First Schedule, in 
which young persons under sixteen may now be employed, are the following : 
Melting or annealing glass.
(No boy under fourteen or girl under eighteen may now be employed).

Making or finishing of bricks or tiles, not being ornamental tiles : making 

or finishing of salt. 

(No girl under sixteen may now be employed.)

Dry grinding in the metal trade : dipping of lucifer matches. 

(No child under fourteen may now be employed.)

"In any grinding in the metal trades other than dry grinding, or in fustian 

"cutting, a child under the age of eleven years shall not be employed." 

If these occupations were found so bad in the effects on young persons as to 
lead to the imposition of special prohibitions, it is suggested that all young persons 
under sixteen should be protected from being forced into them. 

Precedents already exist for prohibition np to eighteen years of age, for the 
same schedule forbids the employment of any person under that age in "the 
"process of silvering of mirrors by the mercurial process, or the process of making"white lead." Moreover, as already stated, no girl under eighteen may be employed 
in connection with the melting or annealing of glass. When the Colony of 
Victoria copied this section of the English Act, the ages were raised all round, 
to fourteen or eighteen (49 Vic., No. 862). 

16. Where it appears to an inspector under this or any other 
Act or local bye-law relating to the employment of labor, that anyact, neglect or default, by any person whatsoever, in or in connection 
with any place in which any person is employed for hire, is 
punishable or remediable under the laws relating to public health, it 
shall be the duty of the inspector himself, without reference to anylocal authority, to take such action as he may deem fit for the purpose 
of enforcing the law, and every such inspector shall possess all 
rights or powers of instituting legal proceedings for this purposewhich are or may be possessed by any sanitary authority, sanitaryofficer, or medical officer of health. 
Provided that nothing in this section shall relieve any sanitaryauthority or officer of such authority from any duty in connection 
with the law relating to public health. 

Under the existing Act (41 Vic., c. 16, sec. 4) when a Factory Inspectordiscovers an infringement of the sanitary law, he can only report it to the local 
sanitary authority, a procedure which always causes delay and frequently results 
in no action being taken to enforce the law. This clause (coupled with clauee 13) 
will enable the Factory Inspector himself to proceed against the offending em. 
ployer. 

17. The prov1swns of section 7 of the Factory and WorkshopAct, 1878, shall apply to any vat, pan or other structure which is so 
dangerous as to be likely to be a cause of bodily injury to any personemployed in the factory or workshop, whether a child or young person 
or not. 

( 15 ) 
This clause destroys a historical survival. In the earlier Factory Acts 
the provisions against dangerous machinery, &c., were restricted to such as was 
dangerous to women and children. In the existing law this limitation is generallyremoved, and all dangerous machinery, for instance, must be fenced, whether the 
danger is to men or to women (41 Vic., c.l6, sec. 5, 6, 8). But sec. 7, which providesfor the protection of workers f'rom danger from " a vat, pan or other structure," 
only applies to women or children. Ifthe " vat, pan or other structure" is also 
dangerous to men, surely it ought to be made safe. 

18. Notwithstanding anything contained in the 17th section of 
the Factory and Workshop Act Amendment Act of 1883, an inspector 
shall be required and empowered to inspect all bakehouses in 
which persons are employed for hire, and shall, concurrently with 
the officers of the sanitary authority, possess for the purpose of 
enforcing the provisions of any of the laws relating to public health, 
the same rights and powers as they at any time possess. 
Bakehouses already come under the provisions of the Factory Acts, especially 
as regards sanitation (see sec. 34, 35, 45, 61, 93, and Fourth Schedule, of 41 Vic., 

c. 16). But by a most unfortunate provision of the amending Act (46 and 47 Vic. 
c. 53, sec. 17), which gave the local sanitary authority jurisdiction over them, 
the Factory Inspector was ousted from his power to enforce these sanitary provisions. 
As a consequence the bakehouses are most imperfectly inspected; and 
the sanitary Jaw not well enforced. This clause (compare also clauses 13 and 16) 
restores the power of the Factory Inspector, concurrently with that of the local 
sanitary authority. 
19. The provisions of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, 
and of this Act shall apply to any laundry in which persons are 
employed for hire, and in which washing is performed for paymentfor persons other than those resident in the premises on which it is 
situated. 
Women in laundries are often shamefully overworked, and exposed to 
insanitary conditions. 

20. It shall be the duty of every inspector appointed under anyAct relating to the employment of labor to execute and procure the 
enforcement also of the Truck Act, 1831, the Shop Hours RegulationAct, 1886, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1889; and 
any rights or powers possessed by such inspectors under any Act 
shall be deemed to be possessed and to apply for the purposes of the 
execution and enforcement of all the aforesaid Acts. 
No inspectors exist for the enforcement of the Acts named, and evasions 
of them are therefore frequent. The Factory Inspector may as well have power 
to enforce the law wherever he discovers an infringement of it. 

21. It is hereby declared that women are eligible to be appointed 
inspectors, clerks and servants for the execution of this or any other 
Act relating to the employment of labor, upon the same terms and 
su)ject to the same disqualifications as men. 
\ This clause does not require women to be appointed Factory Inspectors, 
l-makes it clear that they are eligible, in case it should be deemed well 
should be appointed. The present Home Secretary has expressed a 

whether he.had power, under the existing law, to appoint a woman. 


Literature relating to the existing Factory Legislation &the Eight Hours Bill. 

The main law now in force is contained in the Act of Parliament 41 Vic., 

c. 16, "The Factory and Workshop Ac:, 1878." Copies can be obtained from 
Eyre and Spottiswoode, and elsewhere, price 2f6. An edition with notes, by 
Mr. A. Redgrave, C.B., is published by Shaw and Sons, price 5f-. Sufficient 
abstract of its provisions can be obtained at the same publishers in sheet form, 
price 6d. (textile and non-textile industries being distinct and 3d. each). 
The law relating to labor in coal mines will be found in the Act 50 and 

51 Vic., c. 58. "The Coal Mines Regulation Act," 1887 ; and that relating to : 

other mines in the Act 35 and 36 Vic., c. 77, "The Metalliferous Mines 

Regulation Act," 1872. "The Agricultural Gangs Act," 1867 ; "The Canal 

Boats Act," 1884; and "The Merchant Shipping Acts," also minutely regulate 

the employment of labor. 

The labor of persons under eighteen in shops is regulated by the Act 49 

and 50 Vic., c. 55, "The Shop Hours Regulation Act, 1886." 

The other Acts in force, such as 46 and 47 Vic., c. 53 (Factories); 38 and 

39 Vic., c. 39; 44 and 45 Vic., c. 26; and 45 and 46 Vic., c. 3 (Mines) effect 

only minor alterations. 

The chief Parliamentary Reports are the Select Committee's Report of 

1816, and those of the Royal Commissions of 1832, 1840-3, 1862-6, and 1876. 

All b.ut the last two are summarised in Engel's " Condition of the Working

Class in England" (Reeves) and Karl Marx's "Capital" (Sonnenschein).

The laws of foreign t:ltates are given (imperfectly) in Foreign Office 

Report, "Commercial, No. 25," C-5866, price 5d. The First Annual H.eport 

of the Federal Commissioner of Labor (Washington, 1886) gives a valuable 

summary of American labor laws. 
· The history of English factory legislation is best found in E. E. von 

Plener's "English Factory Legislation" (Chapman and Hall, 1873). Alfred's 

"History of the Factory Movement" and Philip Grant's "History of Factory 

Legislation" are practically contemporary chronicles of the movement, both, 

however, virtually stopping short at 1847. Lord Shaftesbury's work is de


scribed in his "Life and Work," by E. Hodder (Cassell,1886), and" Speeches"

(Chapman and Hall, 1868). 

Besides Lord Shaftesbury's speeches, those of Sir Robert Peel (H.outledge,
1853), J ohn Bright (Macmillan), Fawcett (Macmillan, 1873), and Lord Macaulay 
(Longmans, 1854.) are historically interesting, and the great speech of 
the latter in 1847 on the Ten Hours Bill rebuts the arguments against regulation 
of adult labor with great oratorical force. Torrens' "Life of Sir James 
Graham" (Saunders, 1863) hardly mentions his virulent opposition to the 
movement. Cobden's utterances on the subject are omitted from his collected 
"Speeches" (l\lacmillan, 1880). 

The arguments in favor of factory legislation are well given in ,V, S. 
Jevons's "The State iu Relation to Labor," ch. iii. (l\lacmillan, 1882); John 
Morley's "Life of Cobden," vol. i., cb. xiii., pp. 298, 303 ; H. Ll. t:lmith's 
"Economic Aspects of State Socialism," ch. iv., sec. ii. (Simpkin, 1887); J. S. 
Mill's "Principles of l'olitical Economy," bk. v., ch. xi.,§ 9 and 12., and essay"On Liberty," ch. v.; Duke of Argyle's "H.eign of Law," cb. vii. (Strahan, 
1867); and especially in Gunton's "·wealth and Progress" (Macmillan, 1888.) 

!'he latter work gives the best summary of the case for an Eight Hours 
Bill, but Tom l\lann's pamphlet, "The Eight Ilours l\lovement" (Modernl'ress, 13, Paternoster Row, 1889, price 1d.) presents it in a form more popularly 
accessible. The difficulties of a universal compulsory eight hours day 
are stated by Mr. Bradlaugh, M.P., in his article republished from the Neu: 
Review, "The Eight Hours .Movement" (Freethought Publishing Company, 
63 Fleet Street, 1889, price 2d.) 

The best discussion of the subject is, however, to be found in recent 
magazine atticlcs, uot reprinted, such as the following;-,._ 

Gcor~c U 111Jtou," 'l'l~c Ei~ht !lour~ Law: Mil all it he adopted 't '' (Porum, 18~6, p. 1:16.)

Harold Cox," 'rhc g,g-ht Uonr• llill" (Nilll'lPcuth Cr.tliLT!J, .) uly. 18'9.) • 

(Anon) moub) .. ::5o me J;.;cuuomic A~pcct~ of ttw' Eigllt llour8 .\I ovemcnt ., ( Westmins~r llt ,-v.~,
July, l~~U) . >s>'~' 

J:l . Jll.llyudmnu, •· Eigut llour• the lllasimuw Working .l)ay" (New lleuiew, Aug., Ho!l.) '011 
H. 11. Champion, " 1' bc Eight llour• Jlluvcmcnt" {Nineteen'h Ce~ttury, September, lb8U). 
i:>idncy Webb, '" 1'bc Limitation of the llour•of Labor '' (Coutemporaru Revi<w, December, ·