290 REPORT— 1902. 



■without additional strain, machinery running at higher speeds. This, 

 observe, was before the full effect of the Act in increasing vitality could 

 have appeared. As to the Act of 1874, its effects were finally reported 

 to be ' trifling and insignificant ' as regards wages and the average daily 

 output. ' 



Of course in some respects the legislation specially affecting women 

 could not but affect their earnings occasionally ; for instance, the regula- 

 tion by which they are bound to be absent from the factory for a fixed 

 time after child-birth. This period is now four weeks (having been so 

 fixed by Section 17 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1891), but in the 

 opinion of many medical men it is highly desirable that it should be 

 extended — some say to three months, and Dr. Tatham has urged to as 

 much as six months. Few people could be found to argue seriously that 

 the regulation curtailing attendance at the mill just after child-birth has 

 not proved beneficial to the mothers, and it is highly probable that 

 women's average earnings over a long period are thereby increased. 



With a view to getting suggestions as to the present operation of 

 legislation - affecting women's labour and learning the attitude of employers 

 to it, I sent out to many manufacturers and spinners in the chief centres 

 of the cotton industry a circular, of which a portion is given below : — 



' Would you be good enough to tell us — 



(1) Whether the clauses in the Factory Acts relating to women 



hamper you in any way ? 



(2) Whether this legislation has caused a displacement of women 



or men 1 



(3) Whether it has raised or lowered wages ? 



(4) Whether it has affected the efficiency and health of women ? 



And would you kindly give us in general your opinion of the value or 

 otherwise of legislation regulating women's labour ? Would you like it 

 altei'ed or extended in any way ? ' 



The replies received were not sufficiently numerous to enable them to 

 be regarded as typical. However a brief summary of their general tenor 

 will not be without interest. A, few employers argued that the industry 

 was made excessively inelastic, so that it became incapable of meeting 

 sudden demands. As regards the second question the answer was invari- 

 ably that no displacement had been caused. To the third question the 

 answer was in almost every instance that wages had not been affected. 

 Many were agreed that the legislation on the whole had improved health, 

 and, consequently, efficiency, though some thought that parts might be 

 rendered less interfering. One important firm expressed itself as strongly 

 of opinion that the period (now four weeks) after confinement during which 

 women are not allowed to work should be extended. 



' Reports, kc, 1S7C, xvi. 293. See also Reports, &c., 1375, xvl. 317, and 187G, 

 xvi. 301. (Numbers as in British Museum, MS. paging.) 



- No attempt has been made to estimate the effect of the twelve o'clock Saturday, 

 owing to i's recent iotroduction. 



