CHILD LABOUR The movement for the legal prohibition or restriction of child labour developed during the industrial revolution when the evil effects of industrial employment on the physical, mental and moral development of children first attracted public attention.
The first legislative measure restricting child labour was adopted In England in 1802. Since that date nearly all the industrial countries of the world have progressively restricted child labour, and in recent years the minimum age below which industrial em ployment is prohibited has been rapidly raised on an international basis. When in 1890 an international conference met at Berlin it was found impossible to agree on the prohibition of the employ ment of children under 12 in the countries of southern Europe, but when the first International Labour Conference of the I.L.O. met in Washington in 1919 agreement was reached on a Draft Conven tion which raised the minimum age of employment in industry to 14. By the beginning of 1928 this Convention had been ratified by 15 countries : Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Den mark, Estonia, Great Britain, Greece, Irish Free State, Japan, Latvia, Poland, Rumania, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. As a consequence of the adoption of this Draft Convention a general tendency has developed to incorporate the age of 14 in the pro visions of national child labour legislation.
In Great Britain the employment of children is regulated by the Women, Young Persons and Children (Employment) Act of 1920, which provides that no child (i.e., person under the age of 14 years) shall be employed (a) in any industrial undertaking, or (b) on board ship, with certain exceptions. Detailed measures with regard to the employment of children are also embodied in the Education Act 1918 and the Education (Scotland) Act 1918.
In the Dominions the minimum age is also in general 14. In Australia and Canada, where the conditions of employment in Industry are governed by State and provincial legislation, while the minimum age is generally fixed at 14 both for boys and girls, in certain Canadian provinces and in Victoria the minimum age for girls is raised to 15. In New Zealand, South Africa and the Irish Free State the general minimum age is 14.
In India the minimum age was raised in 1922 from 9 to 12. The Act of 1922, by which this reform was made, also prohibits night work of persons under 15 and stipulates that no person under 15 shall be employed in any factory for more than 6 hours per day. By an Act of 1923 it is further provided that no child under 13 shall be employed in a mine or be allowed to be present in any part of a mine which is below ground.
In British colonies the minimum age varies in accordance with local conditions of industrial development, climate and other circumstances. Thus, while in Ceylon it has been found possible by an Ordinance of 2923 to provide that no child under 14 shall be employed in any industrial undertaking or on board ship, in Hongkong the Ordinance of 1922 fixes the age at 1 o for factory employment and at 12 for carrying coal, building material, or debris.
In Europe the legal minimum age for admission to industrial employment varies from 15 to I o. It is 15 in Poland and 14 in Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Sweden (girls), and Switzerland. The mini mum is 13 in France and Germany and Sweden (boys), 12 in Italy and i o in Spain.
In those extra-European countries in which child labour legis lation has been adopted, the minimum age falls within the limits indicated for Europe. In many countries, however, in which little or no industrial development has taken place, no legal restrictions on child labour exist.
It should be noted that the ages indicated above are in many cases a general minimum and provision is frequently made in the laws concerned for exceptions. In Czechoslovakia, for instance, while the Act of 1918 stipulates that in industrial undertakings and also in agriculture and forestry children shall not be employed before the conclusion of their compulsory school attendance and before they are 14, the Act of 1919 permits, with certain provisos, the employment of children over 12 and the employment of chil dren on light work in agriculture and domestic occupations as soon as they attain the age of 1 o.
The minimum ages which have been indicated above are in general those fixed for industrial employment. In certain cases the same age limits are also laid down for employment on board ship and in commerce. The scope of the application of minimum age legislation to industrial undertakings varies widely, as the definition of "factory" or "workshop" is by no means uniform. Minimum age legislation usually does not apply to work-places or ships in which only members of the same family are employed, nor to work done by children in technical schools provided that such work is approved and supervised by public authority. In the case of dangerous or unhealthy work, and night work employ ment is often forbidden under 18. For work in mines the minimum age is often fixed at 16. Enforcement usually depends on the factory inspectors and in order to facilitate their work it is often provided that every employer of young persons shall keep a register of such workers up to 16 or 18 years showing their date of birth.
The regulation of child labour in agriculture is in general much more elastic than in industry. While it is not open to doubt that it is injurious to children to employ them in industry, in agricul ture the need of safeguarding the child is less obvious. The child engaged in agriculture is leading a life in the open air and is in general employed by his own parents. Under these conditions the child's mental and physical development is less likely to be adversely affected by agricultural work than by employment in industry. At the same time it is easy to see that in agriculture also abuses may occur, and many States have regulated the em ployment of children in agriculture as well as in industry. In general, however, the minimum age fixed for agricultural employ ment is considerably lower than for industrial employment. In Denmark, for instance, where the minimum age for industry is 14, a child is permitted to work in agriculture with machinery four years earlier. Even where legislation covering agricultural employment exists, it is always difficult to enforce it directly. Most European States seek to safeguard childhood in rural dis tricts through the indirect operation of education laws, which fix a statutory age-limit below which school attendance is compulsory.
The provisions of minimum age legislation are reinforced in actual practice by a variety of other measures. Under the family allowance system, for instance, now widely applied in France, Belgium, and other countries, by which wage-earners in certain industries receive, in addition to the basic wage, allowances for dependent children, an age limit is fixed beyond which children are not considered to be dependent. As this age limit is usually 14, the system has some influence in inducing parents not to put the children to regular employment before this age. The same sort of influence is exercised by social insurance systems. While national systems of workmen's compensation, health insurance, unemployment insurance and other forms of social insurance differ greatly from country to country, the existence of dependent chil dren is generally taken into account in assessing benefits. These provisions therefore tend to protect the children from being sent to work at too early an age.
An increasing tendency is developing internationally to protect children in regard to employment not only negatively but also positively. It is being more and more clearly realized that it is not enough merely to prohibit the employment of children under 14 and the night work of young persons under 18. It is necessary io prepare the child constructively for the occupation which he will eventually enter. Thus increasing attention is being devoted in many countries to vocational education, technical training and vocational guidance, with a view to equipping the child as com pletely as possible for the moment when he will launch out on the adventure of industrial employment.
In general it may be added that most labour legislation has some sort of repercussion, however remote, on the welfare of the children. Legislation providing for the establishment of minimum wagesi, for instance, by preventing the payment of sweated wages, results normally in safeguarding the standard of life of the family as a whole. Similarly, legislation fixing an eight-hour day may be considered to have a real influence on child welfare inasmuch as it permits the normal man to devote more of his time to family life and to the well-being of his children. (G. A. J.) BIBLIOGRAPHY. International Record of Child Welfare Work, with Bibliography. International Record of Child Welfare Work, with supplements (Brussels, 1921) , issued by the International Association for the Promotion of Child Welfare; An International Year Book of Child Care and Protection (1924), issued by the Save the Children Fund; O. B. King, The Employment and Welfare of Juveniles, etc. (1925) ; Reports of the Children's Branch of the Home Office (1923, 1924, 1925) ; League of Nations' publications, Report of the Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Women and Protection of Children, Official Jour. (July, 1925) ; Report of the Child Welfare Committee (1926).
Texts of Child Labour Laws are in the Bulletin of the International Labour Office (Basle, 1906 and 1919) , and in the Legislative Series (International Labour Office, Geneva). Information on the applica tion of legislation is contained in the Factory Inspectors' Reports and in official reports issued by Government departments in the various countries.