The Factories Act

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 78, 31 December 1891, Page 2

The Factories Act

Thb new. Factories Act, passed last session, comes into operation tomorrow the first of January, 1892. It provides first of all that any place in Which -three or more persons are employed in making anything for sale: is a factory; Every suoh factory is subject to numerous restrictions and limitations; under the Act. Before the -twenty-iirst of January every owner, oeeupier, or manager of a factory must supply the, inspector appointed under the Act with a written aetice containing all kinds of information concerning .such factory. Failure to comply with: this provision will render the defaulting person: liable to a penalty of ten pounds. A further penalty often poinds may be enforced for failure to' register such factory, the fee for registration ranging from, five shillings two guineas a year. Inspectors are empowered to enter and inspect factories by day or night, and severe penalties may be inflicted for delaying or obstructing them, or omitting to furnish them with whatever information they are empowered to demand. Factory ownen ot occupiers must keep records of the names of all employes, together with the ages of such as are under twenty years, and of the particular kind of work in which each of such employes is engaged. They must also affix a notice near the entrance of the factory or workroom giving the name and address of the Inspector for the district, the name and address of the medical authority for the district, the official address of the Board, and the holidays and working hours of the factory. A record must also be kept, and shown to the Inspector on demand, of work done away from the factory. In case of an accident involving loss of life or injury to the person of any of the employees at a factory, the owner or occupier thereof must, under a penalty of ten pounds

forfeiture to* do bo, send immediate notice to the Inspector and to the doctor of the fact, and they shall. hold an inquiry into the circumstances. It is provided, that factories must be kept clean and healthy, and must "not be OTercrowded. With certain exceptions, specified, every factory or workroom is to be lime-washed once in every fourteen months: Where more than six. females are employed,, they are to -hare a private room for their meals, and no woman or young person under eighteen years of age, ia'to be allowed to go for. more than four and a half hours without a meal interval. Special provisions are made with regard to bakehouses. " Sections 49 to 57 deal with the ages at which, and the houra^fbr which,' -"boys and" 7 females may be engaged.- Section 49, treats of holidays, /and provides that every woman, "and person under eighteen years of age, engaged in a factory shall be entitled to Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Her Majesty's birthday as holidays, for which they shall be paid at the same rate as an ordinary working -day llt is .also -provided that they shall have, every Saturday afternoon from one o'clock. To tbisj however, the following further provision is added:— "That in any city, borough, or town district where it may be found inconvenient that Work should cease on Saturdays ai before" mehtiotie'd'the Council or Town Board may, by special order, from time to time appoint any other working day in the week on which women and persons ' under - the age' of eighteen ' years shall have holiday from one of the o'clock in the afternoon,; orsuch special order may provide ana appoint) separate working days in the week on which different .classes or, sets' of' workers, being women and such persons as, aforesaid, shall have a holiday from one of the clock in the afternoon.'' But females or persons under the age of eighteen years may 'be v employed in printing offices on Saturday, or any other half r holiday up to the hour of half past four in the afternoon: In hearing complaints for breaches of the Act no Justice of the Peace who is the owner or occupier of a factory is to be to sit. No boy under thirteen/ at girl under fourteen, years of age, is to be employed in a factory, and both parents and employers are finable lor pejr"nMtting~"tßeny"Tb"""be emjjuoyeoT A" feature of the Act is that workmen and servants are equally liable with owners and occupiers for breaches of its provisions, and that, if a- work-" man, contrary to the instructions of his employer, commits a breach of the Act, he and not his employer will be liable to the penalty.^ Although the Act comes Intb f ? bperatibnTtb-rnorr€wj, and factofy< owners arej required v vt& give certain notices to,, and to procure licenses; from the District Inspectors, no districts have yet been proclaimed or Inspectors appointed.