The act contains provisions for paint ing and whitewashingg, or cleaning with soap and hot water the interior of fac tories; also various regulations for the prevention of accidents and for protecting the workers from discomforts. No child or young person is to be employed where the wet spinning of flax is carried on, unless sufficient means are used for pro tecting the workers from being wetted, and, when hot water is used, for prevent ing the escape of steam into the room occupied by them. No child or young person is allowed to clean any shaft or any wheel, dram, or pulley while the same is in motion, nor to work between the fixed and traversing part of any self acting machine in motion. Such parts of the machinery as are dangerous, and near to which children or young persons are liable to pass, are to be securely fenced. In case of accident to any of the workers, the occupier of the factory must give notice of the same to the cer tifying surgeon of the district, and he is required to investigate it and to report thereon to the inspector, for which pur pose the surgeon has the same powers and authority as an inspector. The Secretary of State, on the report of one of the inspectors of factories, may em power him to direct an action to be brought in the name and on behalf of the person injured for recovery of damages.
By the first Factory Act every child employed in a factory was required to attend school two hours daily ; but by the amending act the time is extended to three hours, between eight in the morning and six in the evening, on every working day except Saturday. When the children work on alternate days, they are required to attend school on the other days for five hours each day. The occupier of a fac tory must obtain every Monday a certi ficate from the schoolmaster that each child has attended school as required by the act, and such certificates must be kept for six months after the date thereof, and be produced during this period when required by either an inspector or sub inspector. The inspector may require a sum not exceeding twopence per week to be paid by the occupier of a factory to the schoolmaster towards the expenses of instructing any child employed in the same, and any such sum thus required may be deducted from the child's wages. If an inspector, on his personal examina tion, or on the report of a sub-inspector, shall be of opinion that any schoolmaster who grants certificates of the school at tendance of children employed in a fac tory is unfit to instruct children, by reason of his incapacity to teach them to read and write, from his gross ignorance, or from his not having the books and ma terials necessary to teach them reading and writing, or because of his immoral conduct, or of his continued neglect to fill up and sign the certificates of school attendance required by the act, the in spector may annul any certificate granted by such disqualified schoolmaster, by a notice in writing addressed to the occu pier of the factory in which the children named in the certificates are employed, setting forth the grounds on which he deems such schoolmaster to be unfit. After the date of such notice no certificate of school attendance granted by such schoolmaster shall be valid for the purposes of this act, unless with the consent in writing of the inspector. When an inspector annuls a school master's certificate, he is required to name some other school within two miles of the factory from the master of which he will receive certificates. The school master and the occupier of a factory may appeal to the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the case of annulling certificates ; and the inspector is required to report (but the act says annually only, although the inspectors make half-yearly reports) each case of annulment, and the reasons for it to the Secretary of State.
By a clause in the first Factory Act it is enacted that whenever it appears neces sary to any inspector that a new or addi tional school is required, such inspector is authorized to establish or procure the establishment of such school.
By the limitations of the working time for children under thirteen to half a day, they are enabled to attend school : those children who work in the morning go to the afternoon schools, and those who work in the afternoon have been to school in the morning. In many factories a change is made at the end of each month, and the chil dren who were employed in the morning attend school and work in the afternoon.
When the Factories Bill (7 Viet. c. 15) was introduced into the House of Com mons there was a large party in favour of a greater diminution in the hours of labour than the bill propmed. Lord Ashley moved that the word " night" be construed to mean from six in the even ing to six in the morning, and the word "meal-time" to be two hours' cessation from labour. This would have left only ten hours as the time for actual work. This amendment was resisted by ministers, who contended that it would have the effect of reducing wages ; or that, if it had not this result, it would affect that por tion of our manufactures connected with the export trade (35,000,000/. out of 44,000,000l.) which bad already, in many instances, to endure a severe competition in the markets of the world. The amend ment (a ten hours' clause) was however carried by 179 against 170 for the origi nal motion (twelve hours). On the fol lowing night Lord Ashley stated the plan by which he proposed to carry out the vote of the House : after October, 1844, he would restrict the daily hours of labour to eleven ; and two years after, the restriction to ten hours would come into operation. The government announced their intention of adhering to the period of twelve hours, as fixed by their bill. On the 22nd of March the House went into committee on the Bill, when two divi sions took place : on the motion that twelve hours a day should be the limits of adult labour, an amendment was pro posed which substituted ten hours, which was carried by 186 to 183; but at the next stage of the Bill, the motion that the blank in the bill should be accordingly filled up with the word " ten" was lost by 181 to 188. The ministers in the first instance were in a minority of 3, and in the second they had a majority of 7. From this dilemma the House escaped by bringing in a sew bill, which was ulti mately carried.
Mr. Leonard Horner, who is one of the Inspectors of Factories, in his report dated 16th of May, 1845, gives an instance of the voluntary shortening of the hours of factory labour from twelve to eleven hours per day, which had been effected without any diminution of profit. The plan had been in operation twelve months, and the declaration of the em ployers was, " that the same quantity of produce and at the same cost has been obtained by the master ; and that all the workers, day hands as well as those who are paid by piece-work, earn the same amount of wages in the eleven hours as was done before by the labour of twelve hours." Encouraged by this represen tation, the hours of labour of persons unaer eighteen were reduced by 10 Viot. C. 29, from twelve to eleven, from July 1, 1847; and from May 1, 1848, the hours of persona under eighteen were reduced to ten in any one day, and not to exceed fifty-eight in any one week. These limitations were extended to all females above eighteen years of age. At this stage legislation on this difficult sub ject rests at present; but as dissatisf .c tion prevails among the inill-owmrs, further acts may be retpii-ite.