Labour Law

(c) Shops.

There is only one provision in the Shops Acts intended to protect the health of shop assistants, namely s. 3 of the Act of 1912 which requires seats to be provided for female shop assistants employed in the serving of customers, in the pro portion of one seat to every three such persons employed. The sanitary condition of shops and safety in case of fire in them are regulated only by provisions of more general application contained in the Public Health Acts and local bye-laws.

(d) Ships.

The safety of merchant ships and the health and well-being of the crew are subjects of detailed regulation under the Merchant Shipping Acts. The safety of ships is the main con cern of shipping legislation and the safety of the seamen is part of this general question, for particulars of which see under article SHIPPING. But a few provisions especially for the wel fare of the seamen as such may be noted here. For instance, the quantity and quality of water and provisions on board ship is an element absolutely essential to the health of seamen. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 consequently deals with the handling of complaints as to deficiencies in these respects, and the Act of 1906 contains precise details as to the scale of provisions to be allowed, and deals with the inspection of provisions and water intended for the crew. Another vital matter is the provision of medicines on board. Scales of medicines and medical stores suitable for different classes of ships and voyages are issued by the Board of Trade. Every foreign-going ship having at least zoo persons on board must carry a ship's doctor. The minimum ac commodation to be appropriated for the seamen is also prescribed by law. Under the Act of 1906, this must amount to at least 120 cu.ft. of air space and 15 sq.ft. of floor space for each man.

(e) Railways.

The Railway Employment (Prevention of Accidents) Act 190o empowers the Board of Trade (now Ministry of Transport) to make rules "with the object of reducing or re moving the dangers and risks incidental to railway service." Rail way companies are bound by the Notice of Accidents Act (as amended in 1906) to give notice of accidents resulting in loss of life or bodily injury such as to cause an employee to be absent throughout at least one whole day from his ordinary work. This rule as to notification of accidents applies to various other types of employment in addition to railway service, namely any employ ment in the "Construction, use, working or repair of any railway, tramroad, tramway, gas work, canal, bridge, tunnel, or other work authorized by any local or personal Act of parliament" and also to the "use or working of any traction engine or other engine or machine worked by steam in the open air." Conditions for Admission to Work.—The most important part of the law excluding certain classes of person from all or specified occupations is that fixing the minimum age at which young people may first enter upon employment. In addition to this there are legal provisions excluding women of all ages or below a certain age or male young persons under 18 from par ticularly dangerous or unhealthy processes, and also provisions excluding persons from work by reason of their physical state.

The age limit for starting work at all is now regulated in the first place by the Education Act 1921 (superseding the Employ ment of Children Act 1903) which absolutely prohibits the em ployment of any child under the age of years. For this purpose

the expression "employment" includes "employment in any labour exercised by way of trade or for purposes of gain, whether the gain be to the child or young person or to any other person." In addition to this general restriction, the local education authorities for elementary education may make bye-laws prescribing some age between and 14 below which employment shall be illegal either for both sexes or for boys and girls separately, and with respect to all or any specified occupations. This Act further absolutely prohibits the employment of children under 14 in street trading, or in any work that involves too heavy lifting, carrying, etc., or is likely to be injurious to life, limb, health or education. When a boy or girl reaches the age of 14 and is free to leave school, he or she ceases to be protected by the Education Act and comes under the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act 192o, which now governs the admission of young workers to work in all "industrial undertakings" and also on board sea-going ships. This Act purports to bring British law into exact and full con formity with two draft conventions adopted by the general con ference of the International Labour Organization fixing at years the minimum age for admission of children to "industrial undertakings" and to employment at sea respectively. For the definition of "industrial undertaking," the Act merely refers to the text of the first-named convention, which is given as a schedule to the Act. Owing to the international purpose of this measure, no attempt was made to draft a rigid definition of the undertakings covered, but these are expressly declared to include : (a) mines; (b) "industries in which articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are transformed, including ship-building and the generation, transformation, and transmission of electricity and motive power of any kind"; (c) works of con struction and maintenance of all sorts, e.g., of buildings, railways, docks; and (d) transport of passengers and goods by road or rail or inland waterway, including the handling of goods at docks, etc. This would appear to cover the whole ground of the British Factory and Workshop Acts and Mines Acts and a good deal besides. It is not clear whether the Act applies to "domestic factories and workshops"; but if this is not so, a still remaining section (s. 14) of the Education Act of 1918 would prevent em ployment in such places below the age of 14. The other draft convention, fixing the minimum age for admission of children to employment at sea, excludes children under 14 from employment on vessels, other than those upon which only members of the same family are employed. "Vessel" includes "all ships and boats of any nature whatsoever engaged in maritime navigation, whether pub licly or privately owned." The Act provides that no child shall be employed in any ship except in accordance with the convention.