306 EEPORT— 1902. 



a sweet factory they have been reduced quite recently. Sanitation has 

 recently been much improved. The special rules applying to white-lead 

 works have excluded women from part of the work. In the bookbinding 

 trade the Acts have not caused any displacement ; if overtime is necessary 

 the men take on the women's work when they leave at night. In tailoring 

 there is no prospect of the dearer labour of men replacing that of women. 

 The out-workers' list is expected to have a good eflect, now it is attended 

 to, those who take out the work endeavouring to keep their houses clean 

 to satisfy the inspector. The ' particulars ' clause is stated to have 

 introduced no change in the tailoring, at any rate in the better class 

 work, since accurate tickets were already supplied. It is held that the 

 Acts regulating hours are operative, and together with the provisions 

 regarding safety and sanitation tend to drive the small employer out of 

 the tailoring and laundry trades, thus tending to increase work on a larger 

 scale. Greater regularity in hours is enforced, and this tends to put the 

 Work in the hands of a better class of employees. 



VII. — Sivitzerland. 

 ■ Federal Legislation. 



In Switzerland the separate cantonal legislation of the industrial 

 Cantons prepared the way for the general federal law of March 23, 1877, 

 on which all subsequent legislation has been based. This law applies to 

 all factories where a number of persons are employed within doors, away 

 from their homes, and the majority of its provisions apply to adult 

 workers of both sexes as well as to children and young persons. A wider 

 application was given by the federal decree of June 3, 1891 : this 

 decree brought within the scope of the law establishments employing 

 more than tive persons and using motor power, or employing persons 

 under eighteen, or satisfying certain other conditions. 



The hours of labour may not exceed eleven, exclusive of at least one 

 hour for meals ; if the midday pause is less than H hour, women who 

 have a household to manage may leave work \ hour sooner than men. 

 Men and unmarried women over eighteen years of age may also be em- 

 ployed in necessary subsidiary work, such as cleaning, before or after the 

 regular factory hours. On Saturdays and the days preceding public 

 holidays the hours of labour must not exceed ten. 



Sunday work is prohibited, except in cases of absolute necessity ; and 

 where furnaces are kept continuously going, eight days' holiday annually, 

 to be arranged by the cantons, must be allowed in addition to Sundays. 



Night work between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. is forbidden from June to 

 August inclusive ; during the rest of the year ' night ' work extends from 

 8 P.M. to 6 A.M. Exceptions are allowed in certain specified cases, but 

 women may never be employed at night or on Sundays. 



Women must be absent from employment in factories during eight 

 weeks before and after childbirth, and on their return to work proof 

 must be tendered of an absence since birth of the child of at least six 

 weeks. Certain dangerous occupations or branches of industry from 

 which women are to be excluded during pregnancy were specified by 

 a federal decree of December 31, 1897, e.g., processes in which white 

 phosphorus is used, manufacture of lead or lead compounds, dry cleaning 

 works, indiarubber works, &o. 



