Chapter IV: Part 4

Security in the use of machinery is provided for by precautions as
regards the cleaning of machinery in motion and working between the
fixed and traversing parts of self-acting machines driven by power, by
fencing of machinery, and by empowering inspectors to obtain an order
from a court of summary jurisdiction to prohibit the use, temporarily
or absolutely, of machinery, ways, works or plant, including use of a
steam boiler, which cannot be used without danger to life and limb.
Every hoist and fly-wheel directly connected with mechanical power,
and every part of a water-wheel or engine worked by mechanical power,
and every wheel race, must be fenced, whatever its position, and every
part of mill-gearing or dangerous machinery must either be fenced or
be in such position that it is as safe as if fenced. No protected
persons may clean any part of mill-gearing in motion, and children may
further not clean any part of or below manufacturing machinery in
motion by aid of mechanical power; young persons further may not clean
any machinery if the inspector notifies it to the occupier as
dangerous. Security as regards the use of dangerous premises is
provided for by empowering courts of summary jurisdiction, on the
application of an inspector, to prohibit their use until the danger
has been removed. The district council, or, in London, the county
council, or in case of their default the factory inspector, can
require certain provisions for escape in case of fire in factories and
workshops in which more than forty persons are employed; special
powers to make by-laws for means of escape from fire in any factory or
workshop are, in addition to any powers for prevention of fire that
they possess, given to every district council, in London to the county
council. The means of escape must be kept free from obstruction.
Provisions are made for doors to open outwards in each room in which
more than ten persons are employed, and to prevent the locking,
bolting or fastening of doors so that they cannot easily be opened
from inside when any person is employed or at meals inside the
workplace. Further, provisions for security may be provided in special
regulations. Every boiler for generating steam in a factory or
workshop or place where the act applies must have a proper safety
valve, a steam gauge, and a water gauge, and every such boiler, valve
and gauge must be maintained in proper condition. Examination by a
competent person must take place at least once in every fourteen
months. The occupier of any factory or workshop may be liable for
penal compensation not exceeding £100 in case of injury or death due
to neglect of any provision or special rule, the whole or any part of
which may be applied for the benefit of the injured person or his
family, as the secretary of state determines. When a death has
occurred by accident in a factory or workshop, the coroner must advise
the factory inspector for the district of the place and time of the
inquest. The secretary of state may order a formal investigation of
the circumstances of any accident as in the case of mines. Careful and
detailed provisions are made for the reporting by occupiers to
inspectors, and entry in the registers at factories and workshops of
accidents which occur in a factory or workshop and (a) cause loss of
life to a person employed there, or (b) are due to machinery moved by
mechanical power, molten metal, hot liquid, explosion, escape of gas
or steam, electricity, so disabling any person employed in the factory
or workshop as to cause him to be absent throughout at least one whole
day from his ordinary work, (c) are due to any other special cause
which the secretary of state may determine, (d) not falling under the
previous heads and yet cause disablement for more than seven days'
ordinary work to any person working in the factory or workshop. In the
case of (a) or (b) notice has also to be sent to the certifying
surgeon by the occupier. Cases of lead, phosphorus, arsenical and
mercurial poisoning, or anthrax, contracted in any factory or workshop
must similarly be reported and registered by the occupier, and the
duty of reporting these cases is also laid on medical practitioners
under whose observation they come. The list of classes of poisoning
can be extended by the secretary of state's order.

Physical fitness of workers.

Certificates of physical fitness for employment must be obtained by
the occupier from the certifying surgeon for the district for all
persons under sixteen years of age employed in a factory, and in any
class of workshops to which the requirement has been extended by order
of the secretary of state, and an inspector may suspend any such
persons for re-examination in a factory, or for examination in a
workshop, when "disease or bodily infirmity" unfits the person, in his
opinion, for the work of the place. The certifying surgeon may examine
the process as well as the person submitted, and may qualify the
certificate he grants by conditions as to the work on which the person
is fit to be employed. An occupier of a factory or workshop or laundry
shall not knowingly allow a woman to be employed therein within four
weeks after childbirth.

Hours of protected persons.

The employment of children, young persons and women is regulated as
regards ordinary and exceptional hours of work, ordinary and
exceptional meal-times, length of spells and holidays. The outside
limits of ordinary periods of employment and holidays are, broadly,
the same for textile factories as for non-textile factories and
workshops; the main difference lies in the requirement of not less
than a total two hours' interval for meals out of the twelve, and a
limit of four and a half hours for any spell of work, a longer weekly
half holiday, and a prohibition of overtime, in textile factories, as
compared with a total one and a half hours' interval for meals and a
limit of five hours for spells and (conditional) permission of
overtime in non-textile factories. The hours of work must be
specified, and from Monday to Friday may be between 6 A.M. and 6 P.M.,
or 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.; in non-textile factories and workshops the hours
also may be taken between 8 A.M. and 8 P.M. or by order of the
secretary of state for special industries 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. Between
these outside limits, with the proviso that meal-times must be fixed
and limits as to spells observed, women and young persons may be
employed the full time, children on the contrary only half time, on
alternate days, or in alternate sets attending school half time
regularly. On Saturdays, in textile factories in which the period
commences at 6 A.M. all manufacturing work must cease at 12 if not
less than one hour is given for meals, or 11.30 if less than one hour
is given for meals (half an hour extra allowed for cleaning), and in
non-textile factories and workshops at 2 P.M., 3 P.M. or 4 P.M.,
according as the hour of beginning is 6 A.M., 7 A.M. or 8 A.M. In
"domestic workshops" the total number of hours for young persons and
children must not exceed those allowed in ordinary workshops, but the
outside limits for beginning and ending are wider; and the case is
similar as regards hours of women in "women's workshops." Employment
outside a factory or workshop in the business of the same is limited
in a manner similar to that laid down in the Shop Hours Act, to be
touched on presently. Overtime in certain classes of factories,
workshops and warehouses attached to them is permitted, under
conditions specified in the acts, for women, to meet seasonal or
unforeseen pressure of business, or where goods of a perishable nature
are dealt with, for young persons only in a very limited degree in
factories liable to stoppage for drought or flood, or for an
unfinished process. These and other cases of exceptional working are
under minute and careful administrative regulations. Broadly these
same regulations as to exceptional overtime may apply in _laundries_
but the act of 1907 granted to laundries not merely ancillary to the
manufacture carried on in a factory or workshop (e.g. shirt and collar
factories), additional power to fix different periods of employment
for different days of the week, and to make use of one or other of two
exceptional methods of arranging the daily periods so as to permit of
periods of different length on different days; these exceptional
periods cannot be worked in addition to overtime permissible under the
general law. Laundries carried on in connexion with charitable or
reformatory institutions were brought in 1907 within the scope of the
law, but special schemes for regulation as to hours, meals, holidays,
&c., may be submitted by the managers to the secretary of state, who
is empowered to approve them if he is satisfied that they are not less
favourable than the corresponding provisions of the principal act;
such schemes shall be laid as soon as possible before both Houses of
Parliament.

Dangerous and unhealthy industries.

Night work is allowed in certain specified industries, under
conditions, for male young persons, but for no other workers under
eighteen, and overtime for women may never be later than 10 P.M. or
before 6 A.M. Sunday work is prohibited except, under conditions, for
Jews; and in factories, workshops and laundries six holidays
(generally the Bank holidays) must be allowed in the year. In
creameries in which women and young persons are employed the secretary
of state may by special order vary the beginning and end of the daily
period of employment, and allow employment for not more than three
hours on Sundays and holidays.

The general provisions of the act may be supplemented where specially
dangerous or unhealthy trades are carried on, by special regulations.
This was provided for in the law in force until 31st December 1901, as
in the existing principal act, and the power to establish rules had
been exercised between 1892 and 1901 in twenty-two trades or processes
where injury arose either from handling of dangerous substances, such
as lead and lead compounds, phosphorus, arsenic or various chemicals,
or where there is inhalation of irritant dust or noxious fumes, or
where there is danger of explosion or infection of anthrax. Before the
rule could be drawn up under the acts of 1891 to 1895, the secretary
of state had to certify that in the particular case or class of cases
in question (e.g. process or machinery), there was, in his opinion,
danger to life or limb or risk of injury to health; thereupon the
chief inspector might propose to the occupier of the factory or
workshop such special rules or measures as he thought necessary to
meet the circumstances. The occupier might object or propose
modifications, but if he did not the rules became binding in
twenty-one days; if he objected, and the secretary of state did not
assent to any proposed modification, the matters in difference had to
be referred to arbitration, the award in which finally settled the
rules or requirement to be observed. In November 1901, in the case of
the earthenware and china industry, the last arbitration of the kind
was opened and was finally concluded in 1903. The parties to the
arbitration were the chief inspector, on behalf of the secretary of
state, and the occupier or occupiers, but the workmen interested might
be and were represented on the arbitration. In the establishing of the
twenty-two sets of existing special rules only thrice has arbitration
been resorted to, and only on two of these occasions were workmen
represented. The provisions as to the arbitration were laid down in
the first schedule to the Act of 1891, and were similar to those under
the Coal Mines Regulation Acts. Many of these codes have still the
force of law and will continue until in due course revised under the
amended procedure of the act of 1901. They might not only regulate
conditions of employment, but also restrict or prohibit employment of
any class of workers; where such restriction or prohibition affected
adult workers the rules had to be laid for forty days before both
Houses of Parliament before coming into operation. The obligation to
observe the rules in detail lies on workers as well as on occupiers,
and the section in the act of 1891 providing a penalty for
non-observance was drafted, as in the case of the mines, so as to
provide for a simultaneous fine for each (not exceeding two pounds for
the worker, not exceeding ten pounds for the employer).

The provisions as to special regulations of the act of 1901 touch
primarily the method of procedure for making the regulations, but they
also covered for the first time domestic workshops and added a power
as to the kind of regulations that may be made; further, they
strengthened the sanction for observance of any rules that may be
established, by placing the occupier in the same general position as
regards penalty for non-observance as in other matters under the act.
On the certificate of the secretary of state that any manufacture,
machinery, plant, process or manual labour used in factories or
workshops is dangerous or injurious to life, health or limb, such
regulations as appear to the secretary of state to meet the necessity
of the case may be made by him after he has duly published notice: (1)
of his intention; (2) of the place where copies of the draft
regulations can be obtained; and (3) of the time during which
objections to them can be made by persons affected. The secretary of
state may modify the regulations to meet the objections made. If not,
unless the objection is withdrawn or appears to him frivolous, he
shall, before making the regulations, appoint a competent person to
hold a public inquiry with regard to the draft regulations and to
report to him thereon. The inquiry is to be made under such rules as
the secretary of state may lay down, and when the regulations are
made, they must be laid as soon as possible before parliament. Either
House may annul these regulations or any of them, without prejudice to
the power of the secretary of state to make new regulations. The
regulations may apply to all factories or workshops in which the
certified manufacture, process, &c., is used, or to a specified class.
They may, among other things, (a) prohibit or limit employment of any
person or class of persons; (b) prohibit, limit, or control use of any
material or process; (c) modify or extend special regulations
contained in the Act. Regulations have been established among others
in the following trades and processes: felt hat-making where any
inflammable solvent is used; file-cutting by hand; manufacture of
electric accumulators; docks, processes of loading, unloading, &c.;
tar distilling; factories in which self-acting mules are used; use of
locomotives; spinning and weaving of flax, hemp and jute; manufacture
of paints and colours; heading of yarn dyed by means of lead
compounds.

Measures and particulars to piece-workers.

Although the Factory and Workshop Acts have not directly regulated
wages, they have made certain provision for securing to the worker
that the amount agreed upon shall be received: (a) by extending every
act in force relating to the inspection of weights, measures and
weighing machines for use in the sale of goods to those used in a
factory or workshop for checking or ascertaining the wages of persons
employed; (b) by ensuring that piece-workers in the textile trades
(and other trades specified by the secretary of state) shall receive,
before commencing any piece of work, clear particulars of the wages
applicable to the work to be done and of the work to which that rate
is to be applied. Unless the particulars of work are ascertainable by
an automatic indicator, they must be given to textile workers in
writing, and in the case of weavers in the cotton, worsted and woollen
trades the particulars of wages must be supplied separately to each
worker, and also shown on a placard in a conspicuous position. In
other textile processes, it is sufficient to furnish the particulars
separately to each worker. The secretary of state has used his powers
to extend this protection to non-textile workers, with suitable
modifications, in various hardware industries, including pen-making,
locks, chains, in wholesale tailoring and making of wearing apparel,
in fustian cutting, umbrella-making, brush-making and a number of
other piece-work trades. He further has in most of these and other
trades used his power to extend this protection to outworkers.

Administration.

With a view to efficient administration of the act (a) certain notices
have to be conspicuously exhibited at the factory or workshop, (b)
registers and lists kept, and (c) notices sent to the inspector by the
occupier. Among the first the most important are the prescribed
abstract of the act, the names and addresses of the inspector and
certifying surgeon, the period of employment, and specified meal-times
(which may not be changed without fresh notice to the inspector), the
air space and number of persons who may legally be employed in each
room, and prescribed particulars of exceptional employment; among the
second are the general registers of children and young persons
employed, of accidents, of lime-washing, of overtime, and lists of
outworkers; among the third are the notice of beginning to occupy a
factory or workshop, which the occupier must send within one month,
report of overtime employment, notice of accident, poisoning or
anthrax, and returns of persons employed, with such other particulars
as may be prescribed. These must be sent to the chief inspector at
intervals of not less than one and not more than three years, as may
be directed by the secretary of state.

The secretary of state for the Home Department controls the
administration of the acts, appoints the inspectors referred to in the
acts, assigns to them their duties, and regulates the manner and cases
in which they are to exercise the powers of inspectors. The act,
however, expressly assigns certain duties and powers to a chief
inspector and certain to district inspectors. Many provisions of the
acts depend as to their operation on the making of orders by the
secretary of state. These orders may impose special obligations on
occupiers and increase the stringency of regulations, may apply
exceptions as to employment, and may modify or relax regulations to
meet special classes of circumstances. In certain cases, already
indicated, his orders guide or determine the action of district
councils, and, generally, in case of default by a council he may
empower his inspectors to act as regards workplaces, instead of the
council, both under the Factory Acts and Public Health Acts.

The powers of an inspector are to enter, inspect and examine, by day
or by night, at any reasonable time, any factory or workshop (or
laundry, dock, &c.), or part of one, when he has reason to believe
that any person is employed there; to take with him a constable if he
has reasonable cause to expect obstruction; to require production of
registers, certificates, &c., under the acts; to examine, alone or in
the presence of any other person, as he sees fit, every person in the
factory or workshop, or in a school where the children employed are
being educated; to prosecute, conduct or defend before a court of
summary jurisdiction any proceeding under the acts; and to exercise
such other powers as are necessary for carrying the act into effect.
The inspector has also the duty of enforcing the Truck Acts in places,
and in respect of persons, under the Factory Acts. Certifying surgeons
are appointed by the chief inspector subject to the regulations of the
secretary of state, and their chief duties are (a) to examine workers
under sixteen, and persons under special rules, as to physical fitness
for the daily work during legal periods, with power to grant qualified
certificates as to the work for which the young worker is fit, and (b)
to investigate and report on accidents and cases of lead, phosphorus
or other poisoning and anthrax.

In 1907 there were registered as under inspection 110,276 factories, including laundries with power, 146,917 workshops (other than men's workshops), including laundries without power; of works under special rules or regulations (included in the figures just given) there were 10,586 and 19,687 non-textile works under orders for supply of particulars to piece-workers. Of notices of accidents received there were 124,325, of which 1179 were fatal; of reported cases of poisoning there were 653, of which 40 were fatal. Prosecutions were taken by inspectors in 4474 cases and convictions obtained in 4211 cases. Of persons employed there were, according to returns of occupiers, 1904, 4,165,791 in factories and 688,756 in workshops.

_Coal Mines._--The mode of progress to be recorded in the regulation of coal mines since 1872 can be contrasted in one aspect with the progress just recorded of factory legislation since 1878. Consolidation was again earlier adopted when large amendments were found necessary, with the result that by far the greater part of the law is to be found in the act of 1887, which repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, the Coal Mines Acts of 1872 and 1886, and the Stratified Ironstone Mines (Gunpowder) Act, 1881. The act of 1881 was simply concerned with rules relating to the use of explosives underground. The act of 1886 dealt with three questions: (a) The election and payment of checkweighers (i.e. the persons appointed and paid by miners in pursuance of section 13 of the act of 1887 for the purpose of taking a correct account on their behalf of the weight of the mineral gotten by them, and for the correct determination of certain deductions for which they may be liable); (b) provision for new powers of the secretary of state to direct a formal investigation of any explosion or accident, and its causes and circumstances, a provision which was later adopted in the law relating to factories; (c) provision enabling any relatives of persons whose death may have been caused by explosions or accidents in or about mines to attend in person, or by agent, coroners' inquests thereon, and to examine witnesses. The act of 1887, which amended, strengthened and consolidated these acts and the earlier Consolidating Act of 1872, may also be contrasted in another aspect with the general acts of factory legislation. In scope it formed, as its principal forerunner had done, a general code; and in some measure it went farther in the way of consolidation than the Factory Acts had done, inasmuch as certain questions, which in factories are dealt with by statutes distinct from the Factory Acts, have been included in the Mines Regulation Acts, e.g. the prohibition of the payment of wages in public-houses, and the machinery relating to weights and measures whereby miners control their payment; further, partly from the less changing nature of the industry, but probably mainly from the power of expression gained for miners by their organization, the code, so far as it went, at each stage answered apparently on the whole more nearly to the views and needs of the persons protected than the parallel law relating to factories. This was strikingly seen in the evidence before the Royal Commission on Labour in 1892-1894, where the repeated expression of satisfaction on the part of the miners with the provisions as distinct from the administration of the code ("with a few trifling exceptions") is in marked contrast with the long and varied series of claims and contentions put forward for amendment of the Factory Acts.

Since the act of 1887 there have followed five minor acts, based on the recommendation of the officials acting under the acts, while two of them give effect to claims made by the miners before the Royal Commission on Labour. Thus, in 1894, the Coal Mines (Checkweigher) Act rendered it illegal for an employer ("owner, agent, or manager of any mine, or any person employed by or acting under the instructions of any such owner, agent, or manager") to make the removal of a particular checkweigher a condition of employment, or to exercise improper influence in the appointment of a checkweigher. The need for this provision was demonstrated by a decision of the Court of Session in Edinburgh, which upheld an employer in his claim to the right of dismissing all the workmen and re-engaging them on condition that they would dismiss a particular checkweigher. In 1896 a short act extended the powers to propose, amend and modify special rules, provided for representation of workmen on arbitration under the principal act on any matter in difference, modified the provision for plans of mines in working and abandoned mines, amended three of the general rules (inspection before commencing work, use of safety lamp and non-inflammable substances for stemming), and empowered the secretary of state by order to prohibit or regulate the use of any explosive likely to become dangerous. In 1900 another brief act raised the age of employment of boys underground from twelve to thirteen. In 1903 another amending act allowed as an alternative qualification for a manager's certificate a diploma in scientific and mining training after at least two years' study at a university mining school or other educational institution approved by the secretary of state, coupled with practical experience of at least three years in a mine. In the same year the Employment of Children Act affected children in mines to the extent already indicated in connexion with factories. In 1905 a Coal Mines (Weighing of Minerals) Act improved some provisions relating to appointment and pay of checkweighers and facilities for them and their duly appointed deputies in carrying out their duties. In 1906 the Notice of Accidents Act provided for improved annual returns of accidents and for immediate reporting to the district inspector of accidents under newly-defined conditions as they arise in coal and metalliferous mines.

Act of 1887.

While the classes of mines regulated by the act of 1887 are the same
as those regulated by the act of 1872 (i.e. mines of coal, of
stratified ironstone, of shale and of fire-clay, including works above
ground where the minerals are prepared for use by screening, washing,
&c.) the interpretation of the term "mine" is wider and simpler,
including "every shaft in the course of being sunk, and every level
and inclined plane in the course of being driven, and all the shafts,
levels, planes, works, tramways and sidings, both below ground and
above ground, in and adjacent to and belonging to the mine." Of the
persons responsible under penalty for the observance of the acts the
term "owner" is defined precisely as in the act of 1872, but the term
"agent" is modified to mean "any person appointed as the
representative of the owner in respect of any mine or any part
thereof, and, as such, superior to a manager appointed in pursuance of
this act." Of the persons protected, the term "young person"
disappeared from the act, and "boy," i.e. "a male under the age of
sixteen years," and "girl," i.e. "a female under the age of sixteen
years," take their place, and the term "woman" means, as before, "a
female of the age of sixteen years and upwards." The prohibition of
employment underground of women and girls remains untouched, and the
prohibition of employment underground of boys has been successively
extended from boys of the age of ten in 1872 to boys of twelve in 1887
and to boys of thirteen in 1900. The age of employment of boys and
girls above ground in connexion with any mine is raised from ten years
in 1872 to twelve years since 1887. The hours of employment of a boy
below ground may not exceed fifty-four in any one week, nor ten in any
one day from the time of leaving the surface to the time of returning
to the surface. Above ground any boy or girl under thirteen (and over
twelve) may not be employed on more than six days in any one week; if
employed on more than three days in one week, the daily total must not
exceed six hours, or in any other case ten hours. Protected persons
above thirteen are limited to the same daily and weekly total of hours
as boys below ground, but there are further provisions with regard to
intervals for meals and prohibiting employment for more than five
hours without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal.
Registers must be kept of all protected persons, whether employed
above or below ground. Section 38 of the Public Health Act 1875, which
requires separate and sufficient sanitary conveniences for persons of
each sex, was first extended by the act of 1887 to the portions of
mines above ground in which girls and women are employed; underground
this matter is in metalliferous mines in Cornwall now provided for by
special rules. Ventilation, the only other requirement in the acts
that can be classed as sanitary, is provided for in every mine in the
"general rules" which are aimed at securing safety of mines, and
which, so far as ventilation is concerned, seek to dilute and render
harmless noxious or inflammable gases. The provision which prohibits
employment of any persons in mines not provided with at least two
shafts is made much more stringent by the act of 1887 than in the
previous code, by increasing the distance between the two shafts from
10 to 15 yds., and increasing the height of communications between
them. Other provisions amended or strengthened are those relating to
the following points: (a) Daily personal supervision of the mine by
the certificated manager; (b) classes of certificates and constitution
of board for granting certificates of competency; (c) plan of workings
of any mine to be kept up to a date not more than three months
previously at the office of the mine; (d) notice to be given to the
inspector of the district by the owner, agent or manager, of accidents
in or about any mine which cause loss of life or serious personal
injury, or are caused by explosion of coal or coal dust or any
explosive or electricity or any other special cause that the secretary
of state specifies by order, and which causes any personal injury to
any person employed in or about the mine; it is provided that the
place where an explosion or accident occurs causing loss of life or
serious personal injury shall be left for inspection for at least
three days, unless this would tend to increase or continue a danger or
impede working of the mine: this was new in the act of 1887; (e)
notice to be given of opening and abandonment of any mine: this was
extended to the opening or abandonment of any seam; (f) plan of an
abandoned mine or seam to be sent within three months; (g) formal
investigation of any explosion or accident by direction of the
secretary of state: this provision, first introduced by the act of
1886, was modified in 1887 to admit the appointment by the secretary
of state of "any competent person" to hold the investigation, whereas
under the earlier section only an inspector could be appointed.

General rules.

The "general rules" for safety in mines have been strengthened in many
ways since the act of 1872. Particular mention may be made of rule 4
of the act of 1887, relating to the inspection of conditions as to gas
ventilation beyond appointed stations at the entrance to the mine or
different parts of the mine; this rule generally removed the earlier
distinction between mines in which inflammable gas has been found
within the preceding twelve months, and mines in which it has not been
so found; of rules 8, 9, 10 and 11, relating to the construction, use,
&c., of safety lamps, which are more detailed and stringent than rule
7 of the act of 1872, which they replaced; of rule 12, relating to the
use of explosives below ground; of rule 24, which requires the
appointment of a competent male person not less than twenty-two years
of age for working the machinery for lowering and raising persons at
the mine; of rule 34, which first required provision of ambulances or
stretchers with splints and bandages at the mine ready for immediate
use; of rule 38, which strengthened the provision for periodical
inspection of the mine by practical miners on behalf of the workmen at
their own cost. With reference to the last-cited rule, during 1898 a
Prussian mining commission visited Great Britain, France and Belgium,
to study and compare the various methods of inspection by working
miners established in these three countries. They found that, so far
as the method had been applied, it was most satisfactory in Great
Britain, where the whole cost is borne by the workers' own
organizations, and they attributed part of the decrease in number of
accidents per thousand employed since 1872 to the inauguration of this
system.

Special rules.

The provisions as to the proposal, amendment and modification of
"special rules," last extended by the act of 1896, may be contrasted
with those of the Factory Act. In the latter it is not until an
industry or process has been scheduled as dangerous or injurious by
the secretary of state's order that occasion arises for the formation
of special rules, and then the initiative rests with the Factory
Department whereas in mines it is incumbent in every case on the
owner, agent or manager to propose within three months of the
commencement of any working, for the approval of the secretary of
state, special rules best calculated to prevent dangerous accidents,
and to provide for the safety, convenience and proper discipline of
the persons employed in or about the mine. These rules may, if they
relate to lights and lamps used in the mine, description of
explosives, watering and damping of the mine, or prevention of
accidents from inflammable gas or coal dust, supersede any general
rule in the principal act. Apart from the initiation of the rules, the
methods of establishing them, whether by agreement or by resort to
arbitration of the parties (i.e. the mine owners and the secretary of
state), are practically the same as under the Factory Act, but there
is special provision in the Mines Acts for enabling the persons
working in the mine to transmit objections to the proposed rules, in
addition to their subsequent right to be represented on the
arbitration, if any.

Of the sections touching on wages questions, the prohibition of the
payment of wages in public-houses remains unaltered, being re-enacted
in 1887; the sections relating to payment by weight for amount of
mineral gotten by persons employed, and for checkweighing the amount
by a "checkweigher" stationed by the majority of workers at each place
appointed for the weighing of the material, were revised, particularly
as to the determination of deductions by the act of 1887, with a view
to meeting some problems raised by decisions on cases under the act of
1872. The attempt seems not to have been wholly successful, the
highest legal authorities having expressed conflicting opinions on the
precise meaning of the terms "mineral contracted to be gotten." The
whole history of the development of this means of securing the
fulfilment of wage contract to the workers may be compared with the
history of the sections affording protection to piece-workers by
particulars of work and wages in the textile trades since the Factory
Act of 1891.

Administration.

As regards legal proceedings, the chief amendments of the act of 1872
are: the extension of the provision that the "owner, agent, or
manager" charged in respect of any contravention by another person
might be sworn and examined as an ordinary witness, to any person
charged with any offence under the act. The result of the proceedings
against workmen by the owner, agent or manager in respect of an
offence under the act is to be reported within twenty-one days to the
inspector of the district. The powers of inspectors were extended to
cover an inquiry as to the care and treatment of horses and other
animals in the mine, and as to the control, management or direction of
the mine by the manager.

An important act was passed in 1908 (Coal Mines Regulation Act 1908) limiting the hours of work for workmen below ground. It enacted that, subject to various provisions, a workman was not to be below ground in a mine for the purpose of his work, and of going to and from his work, for more than eight hours in any consecutive twenty-four hours. Exception was made in the case of those below ground for the purpose of rendering assistance in the event of an accident, or for meeting any danger, or for dealing with any emergency or work incompleted, through unforeseen circumstances, which requires to be dealt with to avoid serious interference in the work of the mine. The authorities of every mine must fix the times for the lowering and raising of the men to begin and be completed, and such times must be conspicuously posted at the pit head. These times must be approved by an inspector. The term "workman" in the act means any person employed in a mine below ground who is not an official of the mine (other than a fireman, examiner or deputy), or a mechanic or a horse keeper or a person engaged solely in surveying or measuring. In the case of a fireman, examiner, deputy, onsetter, pump minder, fanman or furnace man, the maximum period for which he may be below ground is nine hours and a half. A register must be kept by the authorities of the mine of the times of descent and ascent, while the workmen may, at their own cost, station persons (whether holding the office of checkweigher or not) at the pit head to observe the times. The authorities of the mine may extend the hours of working by one hour a day on not more than sixty days in one calendar year (s. 3). The act may be suspended by order in council in the event of war or of imminent national danger or great emergency, or in the event of any grave economic disturbance due to the demand for coal exceeding the supply available at any time. The act came into force on the 1st of July 1909 except for the counties of Northumberland and Durham where its operation was postponed until the 1st of January 1910.

In 1905 the number of coal-mines reported on was 3126, and the number
of persons employed below ground was 691,112 of whom 43,443 were under
16 years of age. Above ground 167,261 were employed, of whom 6154 were
women and girls. The number of separate fatal accidents was 1006,
causing the loss of 1205 lives. Of prosecutions by far the greater
number were against workmen, numbering in coal and metalliferous mines
953; owners and managers were prosecuted in 72 cases, and convictions
obtained in 43 cases.

_Quarries._--From 1878 until 1894 open quarries (as distinct from underground quarries regulated by the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act) were regulated only by the Factory Acts so far as they then applied. It was laid down in section 93 of the act of 1878 (41 Vict. c. 16), that "any premises or place shall not be excluded from the definition of a factory or workshop by reason only that such premises, &c., are or is in the open air," thereby overruling the decision in _Kent_ v. _Astley_ that quarries in which the work, as a whole, was carried on in the open air were not factories; in a schedule to the same act quarries were defined as "any place not being a mine in which persons work in getting slate, stone, coprolites or other minerals." The Factory Act of 1891 made it possible to bring these places in part under "special rules" adapted to meet the special risks and dangers of the operations carried on in them, and by order of the secretary of state they were certified, December 1892, as dangerous, and thereby subject to special rules. Until then, as reported by one of the inspectors of factories, quarries had been placed under the Factory Acts without insertion of appropriate rules for their safe working, and many of them were "developed in a most dangerous manner without any regard for safety, but merely for economy," and managers of many had "scarcely seen a quarry until they became managers." In his report for 1892 it was recommended by the chief inspector of factories that quarries should be subject to the jurisdiction of the government inspectors of mines. At the same time currency was given, by the published reports of the evidence before the Royal Commission on Labour, to the wish of large numbers of quarrymen that open as well as underground quarries should come under more specialized government inspection. In 1893 a committee of experts, including inspectors of mines and of factories, was appointed by the Home Office to investigate the conditions of labour in open quarries, and in 1894 the Quarries Act brought every quarry, as defined in the Factory Act 1878, any part of which is more than 20 ft. deep, under certain of the provisions of the Metalliferous Mines Acts, and under the inspection of the inspectors appointed under those acts; further, it transferred the duty of enforcing the Factory and Workshop Acts, so far as they apply in quarries over 20 ft. deep, from the Factory to the Metalliferous Mines inspectors.

The provisions of the Metalliferous Mines Acts 1872 and 1875, applied to quarries, are those relating to payment of wages in public-houses, notice of accidents to the inspector, appointment and powers of inspectors, arbitration, coroners' inquests, special rules, penalties, certain of the definitions, and the powers of the secretary of state finally to decide disputed questions whether places come within the application of the acts. For other matters, and in particular fencing of machinery and employment of women and young persons, the Factory Acts apply, with a proviso that nothing shall prevent the employment of young persons (boys) in three shifts for not more than eight hours each. In 1899 it was reported by the inspectors of mines that special rules for safety had been established in over 2000 quarries. In the reports for 1905 it was reported that the accounts of blasting accidents indicated that there was "still much laxity in observance of the Special rules, and that many irregular and dangerous practices are in vogue." The absence or deficiency of external fencing to a quarry dangerous to the public has been since 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 19) deemed a nuisance liable to be dealt with summarily in the manner provided by the Public Health Act 1875.

In 1905, 94,819 persons were employed, of whom 59,978 worked inside
the actual pits or excavations, and 34,841 outside. Compared with
1900, there was a total increase of 924 in the number of persons
employed. Fatal accidents resulted in 1900 in 127 deaths; compared
with 1899 there was an increase of 10 in the number of deaths, and, as
Professor Le Neve Foster pointed out, this exceeded the average
death-rate of underground workers at mines under the Coal Mines Acts
during the previous ten years, in spite of the quarrier "having
nothing to fear from explosions of gas, underground fires or
inundations." He attributed the difference to a lax observance of
precautions which might in time be remedied by stringent
administration of the law. In 1905 there were 97 fatal accidents
resulting in 99 deaths. In 1900 there were 92 prosecutions against
owners or agents, with 67 convictions, and 13 prosecutions of workers,
with 12 convictions, and in 1905 there were 45 prosecutions of owners
or agents with 43 convictions and 9 prosecutions of workmen with 5
convictions.

Payment of wages in public-houses.

In 1883 a short act extended to all "workmen" who are manual labourers
other than miners, with the exception of domestic or menial servants,
the prohibition of payment of wages in public-houses, beer-shops and
other places for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquor, laid down
in the Coal Mines Regulations and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts.
The places covered by the prohibition include any office, garden or
place belonging to or occupied with the places named, but the act does
not apply to such wages as are paid by the resident, owner or occupier
of the public-house, beer-shop and other places included in the
prohibition to any workman _bona fide_ employed by him. The penalty
for an offence against this act is one not exceeding £10 (compare the
limit of £20 for the corresponding offence under the Coal Mines Act),
and all offences may be prosecuted and penalties recovered in England
and Scotland under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. The act does not
apply to Ireland, and no special inspectorate is charged with the duty
of enforcing its provisions.

_Shop Hours._--In four brief acts, 1892 to 1899, still in force, the first very limited steps were taken towards the positive regulation of the employment of shop assistants. In the act of 1904 certain additional optional powers were given to any local authority making a "closing order" fixing the hour (not earlier than 7 P.M. or on one day in the week 1 P.M.) at which shops shall cease to serve customers throughout the area of the authority or any specified part thereof as regards all shops or as regards any specified class of shops. Before such an order can be made (1) a prima facie case for it must appear to the local authority; (2) the local authority must inquire and agree; (3) the order must be drafted and sent for confirmation or otherwise to the central authority, that is, the secretary of state for the Home Department; (4) the order must be laid before both Houses of Parliament. The Home Office has given every encouragement to the making of such orders, but their number in England is very small, and the act is practically inoperative in London and many large towns where the need is greatest. As the secretary of state pointed out in the House of Commons on the 1st of May 1907, the local authorities have not taken enough initiative, but at the same time there is a great difficulty for them in obtaining the required two-thirds majority, among occupiers of the shops to be affected, in favour of the order, and at the same time shop assistants have no power to set the law in motion. In England 364 local authorities have taken no steps, but in Scotland rather better results have been obtained. The House resolved, on the date named, that more drastic legislation is required. As regards shops, therefore, in place of such general codes as apply to factories, laundries, mines--only three kinds of protective requirement are binding on employers of shop assistants: (1) Limitation of the weekly total of hours of work of persons under eighteen years of age to seventy-four inclusive of meal-times; (2) prohibition of the employment of such persons in a shop on the same day that they have, to the knowledge of the employer, been employed in any factory or workshop for a longer period than would, in both classes of employment together, amount to the number of hours permitted to such persons in a factory or workshop; (3) provision for the supply of seats by the employer, in all rooms of a shop or other premises where goods are retailed to the public, for the use of female assistants employed in retailing the goods--the seats to be in the proportion of not fewer than one to every three female assistants. The first two requirements are contained in the act of 1892, which also prescribed that a notice, referring to the provisions of the act, and stating the number of hours in the week during which a young person may be lawfully employed in the shop, shall be kept exhibited by the employer; the third requirement was first provided by the act of 1899. The intervening acts of 1893 and 1895 are merely supplementary to the act of 1892; the former providing for the salaries and expenses of the inspectors which the council of any county or borough (and in the City of London the Common Council) were empowered by the act of 1892 to appoint; the latter providing a penalty of 40s. for failure of an employer to keep exhibited the notice of the provisions of the acts, which in the absence of a penalty it had been impossible to enforce. The penalty for employment contrary to the acts is a fine not exceeding £1 for each person so employed, and for failure to comply with the requirements as to seats, a fine not exceeding £3 for a first offence, and for any subsequent offence a fine of not less than £1 and not exceeding £5.

Meaning of "shop."

A wide interpretation is given by the act of 1892 to the class of
workplace to which the limitation of hours applies. "Shop" means
retail and wholesale shops, markets, stalls and warehouses in which
assistants are employed for hire, and includes licensed public-houses
and refreshment houses of any kind. The person responsible for the
observance of the acts is the "employer" of the "young persons" (i.e.
persons under the age of eighteen years), whose hours are limited, and
of the "female assistants" for whom seats must be provided. Neither
the term "employer" nor "shop assistant" (used in the title of the act
of 1899) is defined; but other terms have the meaning assigned to them
in the Factory and Workshop Act 1878. The "employer" has, in case of
any contravention alleged, the same power as the "occupier" in the
Factory Acts to exempt himself from fine on proof of due diligence and
of the fact that some other person is the actual offender. The
provisions of the act of 1892 do not apply to members of the same
family living in a house of which the shop forms part, or to members
of the employer's family, or to any one wholly employed as a domestic
servant.

In London, where the County Council has appointed men and women
inspectors to apply the acts of 1892 to 1899, there were, in 1900,
73,929 premises, and in 1905, 84,269, under inspection. In the latter
year there were 22,035 employing persons under 18 years of age. In
1900 the number of young persons under the acts were: indoors, 10,239
boys and 4428 girls; outdoors, 35,019 boys, 206 girls. In 1905 the
ratio between boys and girls had decidedly altered: indoors, 6602
boys, 4668 girls; outdoors, 22,654 boys, 308 girls. The number of
irregularities reported in 1900 were 9204 and the prosecutions were
117; in 1905 the irregularities were 6966 and the prosecutions
numbered 34. As regards the act of 1899, in only 1088 of the 14,844
shops affected in London was there found in 1900 to be failure to
provide seats for the women employed in retailing goods. The chief
officer of the Public Control Department reported that with very few
exceptions the law was complied with at the end of the first year of
its application.

As regards cleanliness, ventilation, drainage, water-supply and
sanitary condition generally, shops have been since 1878 (by 41 Vict.
c. 16, s. 101) subject to the provisions of the Public Health Act
1875, which apply to all buildings, except factories under the Factory
Acts, in which any persons, whatever their number be, are employed.
Thus, broadly, the same sanitary provisions apply in shops as in
workshops, but in the former these are enforced solely by the officers
of the local authority, without reservation of any power, as in
workshops for the Home Office inspectorate, to act in default of the
local authority.

Shop assistants, so far as they are engaged in manual, not merely
clerical labour, come under the provisions of the Truck Acts 1831 to
1887, and in all circumstances they fall within the sections directed
against unfair and unreasonable fines in the Truck Act of 1896; but,
unlike employés in factories, workshops, laundries and mines, they are
left to apply these provisions so far as they can themselves, since
neither Home Office inspectors nor officers of the local authority
have any specially assigned powers to administer the Truck Acts in
shops.

The Truck Act 1887.

Persons benefited by Truck Acts.