In considering the law restricting hours of work it must be re membered that children under 14 are now excluded from employ ment in "industrial undertakings" (see p. 542), so that any exist ing regulation of hours of work of "children," as opposed to "young persons," is now obsolete. For instance, the complicated arrangements of the Factory Act of 1901 for employing "chil dren" as half-timers in factories have ceased to be of any effect whatever. But it remains necessary to protect children under 14 from overwork or injury to health in the many jobs of one sort or another which they are liable to be put to do while still of school age. This is now in England a matter for the law relating to education. Under the Education Act 1921, the local education authorities for elementary education may make bye-laws pre scribing the hours between which, and the number of daily or weekly hours during which, employment of school children is to be permitted. The Act also contains some express restrictions on the hours of children, namely, that no child between 12 and years of age may work on any Sunday for more than two hours, or before the close of school hours on any day on which he is re quired to attend school. Nor may a child be employed on any day before 6 A.M. or after 8 P.M. To these general rules, however, the local authority may allow exceptions by bye-law, permitting the employment of children of at least 12 years of age in specified occupations before school hours and the employment of children by their own parents. All such bye-laws, however, are subject to the restriction that no child may be employed before 9 A.M. on a school-day for more than one hour, and that no child who has been so employed before 9 A.M. shall work again for more than one hour in the afternoon.
(a) Factories and Workshops.—The provisions of the Fac tory and Workshop Acts relating to hours of work, breaks for rest and holidays (part II. of the Act of i9o1 and for laundries the Act of 1907) are now out of date, and in practice largely (but not completely) obsolete. Although practically all other countries in Europe and many overseas States have of recent years adopted legislation limiting hours of work to something approaching an eight hour day, the British factory law remains in 1928 in its pre-War condition. It still lays down as the limit of hours for women and for young persons under 18 a maximum day of 1 o hours actual work in textile factories, and 101 hours in other factories and workshops, making 12 hours in both cases from the beginning to the end of the working day, if the statutory meal times are included. As in both cases a short day on Saturday is prescribed, the total weekly hours permitted are 55 in textile factories and 6o in other factories and workshops. In various cases overtime may be worked by women in excess of these long hours. Apart from the cases in which overtime is allowed, the Act of 19o' fixed rigidly the hours permissible for beginning and ending the day's work, by requiring employers to adopt and adhere to one of certain alternative "periods of employment," namely 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., or 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. in textile factories, and a third alternative of 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. in addition to these in
all other factories and workshops. This strict delimitation of the period of employment prevented employers who used an eight hour day from employing women and young persons on any system of two eight hour shifts. A section was consequently in cluded in the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Chil dren Act 1920 to enable employers to arrange a system of two day shifts for women and young persons over 16. This first rec ognition by British factory and workshop law of anything short of a 12-hour "period of employment" for women and young per sons necessitated breaking into the more strict limits placed upon night work for such persons in the old law. For it was necessary, in order to fit in two eight hour shifts, to allow these persons to continue at work up to I o o'clock at night, which had never been allowed for young persons (except in certain trades allowed for special reasons to employ male young persons at night) and which had only been permissible for women when working overtime on a strictly limited number of days in the year.
Under the Act of 1920 it is made possible to employ women and young persons of the age of 16 years and upwards in two eight hour shifts at any time between the hours of 6 A.M. and Io P.M. on any week-day except Saturday (when the hours are lim ited to 6 A.M.-2 P.M.). This arrangement is carefully guarded from possible abuse. In the first place it is of only temporary operation, and from 1926 has needed to be annually extended (and has been so extended) by the Expiring Laws Continuance Acts. In the second place, this two-shift system may only be allowed in any factory or workshop on the joint application of the em ployer and a majority of the workers affected. On receiving the application, the home secretary may issue the necessary permit, and he may attach to it whatever conditions he may consider necessary for the purpose of safeguarding the welfare of the per sons affected. Thus it has been possible not only to apply "wel fare" provisions of the kind which may form the subject of wel fare orders (see p. 541), but also to require, for instance, special transport arrangements to be provided for the convenience of women and young persons having to travel to or from their work at an unusually early or late hour. The Act contains a further safeguard enabling organized trades to resist the introduction of the two-shift system altogether in any factory or workshop in their particular industry by means of a kind of veto given to "organizations representing a majority of the employers and workers in the industry concerned." If such organizations make a joint representation to the home secretary to the effect that no such orders should be made in their industry, he is precluded from making any such orders and any order already made ceases to have effect. This Act left unchanged the rules as to intervals for meals. These are that at least one and a half hours altogether must be allowed (or two hours in textile factories), at least one hour being given before 3 P.M. On Saturdays a break of half an hour suffices.