ox women's labour. 321 



■curing they follow the fish round the coast; but these cases are not 

 connected with the regulations. 



4. Employers occasionally complain that work has to be refused ( Yorks., 

 silk), but often {n) the order can be placed with other firms in the same 

 •district. In Yorkshire the system of commission weaving enables the 

 various firms to put out the work they cannot cope with, (/j) Tailoring 

 and other clothing is sometimes taken by small employers or home- 

 workers, who escape regulation. 



5. (o) In watch-making and ths ribbon trade at Coventry, and in the 

 Potteries, the practice of not beginning work on Monday and working at 

 Iiigh pressure at the end of the week is diminished ; collection for 

 laundries has, in some cases, been re-arranged ; but often this should be 

 .ascribed primarily to the invention of machinery. 



(/?) The tendency to put off giving orders to the last moment is easily 

 checked when the customer can be met with a universal legal prohibition. 

 Tn laundries the work has been regularised.'^ 



(y) In modern industry, working to stock is risky, and not much im- 

 provement can be expected in this respect. 



(d) Several instances (Liverpool, jute and dyeing ; South London, tin- 

 plate ; Bristol, boots) - are given where forethought and arrangement 

 have diminished pressure. The restriction puts a pi'emium on good 

 management. 



In Sheffield we are told : ' There has been a noticeable diminution in 

 the amount of overtime worked in busy seasons for which the Acts have 

 been largely responsible ; regularity of work has also been encouraged.' 



It will be seen that the large group of industries which have met the 

 restriction by methods 4 (a) or (8) or 5 have benefited greatly without any 

 drawback ; that 1 and 4 (/3) will be of decreasing importance as effective 

 regulation spreads ; that 4 (y) is hypothetical and not necessarily injuri- 

 ous ; that 2 may, according to complex circumstances, assist or hinder 

 the flow of labour into its most efficient channels. 



The difficulty which arises when it is necessary to perform one pro- 

 cess immediately after another has been completed by a different class 

 of workers is being met by allowing work to commence and finish at 

 different times in different parts of the same factory.^ 



It is the constantly reiterated opinion of the individual factory 

 inspectors ■* that overtime is in very many cases as unnecessary as it is 

 injurious.'^ 



Important light is thrown on the abuses which elasticity of regulation 

 may allow by the description of the conditions of the jam manufacture 

 given in. Factory Inspector's Report, 1898, pp. 173 szq. 



' See in Factory Commission, 1876, evidence of Mr. Bell, bookbinder (Q. 2^)43) ; 

 Factory Inspectors Report, 1894, p. 191 ; 1902, p. 29 ; and 1892, p. 89, for an instance 

 at an earlier date. 



- Factorii Inspector's Report, 1S94, p. 11 ; 1896, pp. 39, 40. 



^ Ibid., 1900, p. 218. 



* Ibid., 1892, p. 88 ; 1893, pp. IG and 299 ; 1894, pp. 12, 20, 23, 28, 191 ; 1S93 

 pp. 13, 117 ; 1898, p. 66 ; 1900, pp. 248, 278 ; 1902, p. 29. 



* For the contrary opinion see Factory Inspectors Report, 1897, p. 68, and for 

 both opinions see Labour Commission, Digest Group, C, vol. 1., p. 39, Factory 

 Inspector's evidence. 



1903. 



