ON women's labour. 319 



time is allowed or desired, the full legal hours are often worked in busy 

 seasons, though in recurring times of slackness they are not reached. As 

 the administi'ation of the Acts has become effective in the smaller work- 

 shops of the large towns, the hours have frequently been brought down to 

 reasonable limits, e.g. in London, Glasgow, and Birmingham. 



It is not to be assumed, however, that the existence of the regulations 

 has no influence in such cases. It is practically certain that the textile 

 factories would often exceed the limit if it were allowed ( Yorks.) ; e.g. the 

 Derby elastic web industry feels the prohibition of overtime. In non- 

 textile factories and workshops, especially in the clothing trades, and 

 printers' folding, the interval between the customary weekly period and 

 the legal maximum is often filled in (and spoken of commonly as ' over- 

 time ') ; frequent demands are made on the additional hours allowed thirty 

 times (formerly forty-eight) annually by the Legislature, while even this 

 limit is not infrequently passed by firms who hope to escape detection. 



In the industries connected with printing (especially folding) through- 

 out the kingdom, in many cases as much overtime is worked as is possible, 

 and employers find it difficult to meet periodical pressure connected with 

 the despatch of magazines ifec. with the amount allowed. Ready-made 

 clothing factories (e.g. in Leeds) use a great jaart of the extra evenings 

 allowed them, and these and smaller firms in Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool, 

 and London give out work (sometimes illegally) when they are pressed ; 

 but, in the main, the thirty occasions are found sufficient. In South 

 London a biscuit firm finds the want of elasticity troublesome ; and so 

 does a Bristol sweets manufacturer. In Nottingham ' in the lace, hosiery, 

 and embroidery trades, many employers desire a measure of liberty in the 

 use of overtime to meet exceptional periods of stress to which the lace 

 trade is specially liable. . . . According to testimony of workers in both 

 lace and hosiery trades, the Acts are very often ignored when incoii- 

 venient. Many employers agree with this statement ' (Nollingham). 

 The manager of a large watch-factory near Liverpool, stated in 1902 that 

 his firm was greatly inconvenienced by having to keep within the legal 

 hours in December, when special pressure occurs. In many other isolated 

 cases some firms in an industry complain of want of overtime, while others 

 have arranged (see below) to do without it. 



The abolition of night-work for women has been effective in the 

 Welsh tinplate manufacture, in paper-making, and to a great extent in 

 printers' folding ; but cases are recorded '^ of folding being done, legally, 

 by women in separate premises at night. A great diminution of night- 

 work in laundries has occurred as an indirect consequence of the Act of 

 1895 {App. II.). 



(b) The Distribution of Work through the Day, Week, or Year. 



A very important, perhaps from the economic point of view the most 

 important, effect of legislation has been to spread the period of work 

 more uniformly througli the week, month, and year than had been the 

 case before regulation. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that 

 there is no trade or district tu which these laws apply where this process 

 has not taken place. 



It is convenient at this point to analyse the possible effects of the 

 diminution of overtime in regulated factories and workshops. 



' E.g., Factory Tiispectoi-'s Report, 1902, p. 149. 



