sons, corporations, and managers of corporations violating any of the provisions of this article.

C. S., s. 6562; 1913, c. 83, s. 3.

180. Sheriff in county to enforce article. When any persons or corporations locate outside of any city or town, its manufacturing plant or other business, it shall be the duty of the sheriff of the county to make investigation of the condition of the toilets used by such manufacturing plant or business and see that the provisions of this article are complied with, and it shall be his duty to swear out a warrant before a justice of the peace and prosecute any one violating the provisions of this article.

181. Counties exempted from article. Sections 176, 177, 178, 179, and 180, of this article shall not apply to Sampson, Harnett, Lee, Johnston, Northampton, Cleveland, Rutherford, Polk, and Henderson Counties.

C. S., s. 6564; 1913, c. 83, s. 6.

182. Construction of buildings regulated. All hotels, lodging houses, school dormitories, hospitals or sanitariums hereafter con. structed in this state, over two stories in height and over one hundred feet in length, shall be constructed so that there shall be at least two pairs of stairs for the use of guests leading from the ground floor to the uppermost story, and for larger buildings such number as the proper officials shall designate. Every hotel, lodging house, school dormitory, hospital or sanitarium in the state, three stories and over in height, shall be provided, without delay, with permanent iron balconies with iron stairs leading from one balcony to the other, to be placed at the end of each hall above the second story, in case such hotel, lodging house, school dormitory, hospital or sanitarium is over one hundred and fifty feet in length, and in other cases such number as may be directed by the insurance commissioner or chief of fire department of such city or town in which such hotel, lodging house, school dormitory, hospital or sanitarium is located. Such balconies and iron stairs are to be constructed at the expense of the owner of the building. Where hotels, lodging houses, school dormitories, hospitals or sanitariums, already built and only three stories in height, are, in the opinion of the insurance commissioner, provided with sufficient inner stairways, so located as to furnish sufficient egress in case of fire, the the commissioner may waive the requirement for outside iron balconies and stairs. This article shall not apply to private residences at which lodgers are not received for hire.

C. S., s. 6081; 1909, c. 637, s. 1.

183. Places of public amusement, how constructed. Every theater, opera house, or other like place of public amusement shall have as many doors for egress therefrom as may be necessary and can be made consistently with the proper strength of the building; all such doors shall be hung so as to open outwardly, or both outwardly and inwardly; and the seats therein shall be arranged in rows properly spaced, with aisles of adequate width, so as to afford easy egress therefrom. All scenery shall be made as secure against becoming inflamed as reasonably practical, and also all reasonably practical arrangements shall be made for the constant supply of water and other means for extinguishment of fires, and they shall be kept constantly effective during the presence of an audience. The insurance commissioner may require all theaters to be equipped with a front curtain of asbestos or other fireproof material, to be furnished by owner of the building, and this curtain shall be raised and lowered not less than twice before each performance, in order to guarantee its being in perfect working order.

C. S., s. 6082; 1909, c. 637, s. 2.

184. Doors in certain buildings to open outwardly. In all public schoolhouses and other buildings, and also all theatres, assembly rooms, halls, churches, factories with more than twenty employees, and all other buildings or places of public resort where people are accustomed to assemble (excepting schoolhouses and churches of one room on the ground floor) which shall hereafter be erected, together with all those heretofore erected and which are still in use as such buildings or places of resort, the doors for ingress and egress shall be so hung as to open outwardly from the audience rooms, halls, or workshops of such buildings or places, or the doors may be hung on double hinges, so as to open with equal ease outwardly or inwardly.

C. S., s. 6083; 1909, c. 637, s. 3.

185. Fire-escapes to be provided. All factories, manufacturing establishments, or workshops of three or more stories in height, in which thirty or more people are employed above the first floor thereof, shall be provided with one or (if the proper officials shall deem necessary) more outside fire-escapes, not less than six feet in length and three feet in width, properly and safely constructed, guarded by iron railings not less than three feet in length and taking in at least one door and one window or two windows at

each story and connected with the interior by easily accessible and unobstructed openings; and the fire-escapes shall connect by iron stairs not less than twenty-four inches wide, the steps to be not less than six inches tread, placed at not more than an angle of forty-five degrees slant, and protected by a well secured hand-rail on both sides, with a twelve-inch-wide drop ladder from the lowest platform reaching to the ground. No outside fire-escapes shall be required where there are already sufficient inside stairways. For every twenty people employed on any floor above the second floor of every factory and workshop there shall be one rope or portable fire-escape, and each story shall be amply supplied with means for extinguishing fires. All the main doors, both inside and outside, in factories, except fire doors, shall open outwardly, when the proper official shall so direct, and no outside or inside door of any building wherein operatives are employed shall be locked, bolted, or otherwise fastened during the hours of labor so as to prevent egress.

C. S., s. 6084; 1909, c. 637, s. 4.

186. Ways of escape provided. Every building now or hereafter used, in whole or in part, as a public building, public or private institution, schoolhouse, church, theater, public hall, place of assembly or place of public resort, and every building in which twenty or more persons are employed above the second story in a factory, workshop, or mercantile or other establishment, when the owner or agent of the owner of the building is notified in writing by the insurance commissioner or one of his deputies, shall be provided with proper ways of egress or other means of escape from fire sufficient for the use of all persons accommodated, assembled, employed, lodging or residing in such building or buildings, and such ways of egress and means of escape shall be kept free from obstructions, in good repair, and ready for use. Every room above the second story in any such building in which twenty or more persons are employed shall be provided with more than one way of egress by stairways on the inside or outside of the building. All doors in any building subject to the provisions of this article shall open outwardly, if the insurance commissioner or one of his deputies shall so direct in writing.

C. S., s. 6085; 1909, c. 637, s. 5.

187. Enforcement by insurance commissioner. The insurance commissioner is charged with the execution of this law, and he or the chief of the fire department is vested with all privileges, duties, and obligations placed upon them in this chapter, in re

gard to the inspection of buildings, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this article in regard to the buildings and requirements herein. Any owner or occupant of premises failing to comply with the provisions of this article, in accordance with the orders of the authorities above specified, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each day's neglect. If any owner or lessee of any building referred to in this article shall deem himself aggrieved by any 1uling or order of any chief of fire department or local inspector, he may within twenty-four hours appeal to the insurance commissioner, and the cause of complaint shall at once be investigated by the direction of the commissioner, and unless by his authority the order or ruling is revoked it shall remain in full force and effect and be forthwith complied with by the owner or lessee.

C. S., s. 6086; 1909, c. 637, s. 6.

ART. 4. HOURS OF SERVICE FOR EMPLOYEES OF

CARRIERS.

188. Maximum continuous service. It shall be unlawful for any common carrier, its officers or agents, subject to this article, to require or permit any employee, subject to this article, to be or remain on duty for a longer period than sixteen consecutive hours, and whenever any such employee of such common carrier shall have been continuously on duty for sixteen hours he shall be relieved and not required or permitted again to go on duty until he has had at least ten consecutive hours off duty; and no such employee who has been on duty sixteen hours in the aggregate in any twenty-four-hour period shall be required or permitted to continue or again go on duty without having had at least eight consecutive hours off duty: Provided, that no operator, train dispatcher, or other employee who by the use of the telegraph or telephone dispatches, reports, transmits, receives, or delivers orders pertaining to or affecting train movements shall be required or permitted to be or remain on duty for a period longer than nine hours in any twenty-four-hour period in all towers, offices, places, and stations continuously operated night and day, nor for a longer period than thirteen hours in all towers, offices, places, and stations operated only during the daytime, except in case of emergency, when the employees named in this proviso may be permitted to be and remain on duty for four additional hours in a twenty-four-hour period or not exceeding three days in any

week: Provided further, the corporation commission may, after a full hearing in a particular case and for good cause shown, extend the period within which a common carrier shall comply with the provisions of this proviso as to such case.

C. S., s. 6565; 1911, c. 112, s. 2.

189. Penalty for violation. Any such common carrier, or any officer or agent thereof, requiring or permitting any employee to go, be, or remain on duty in violation of the last preceding section shall be liable to a penalty of not to exceed five hundred dollars for each and every violation, to be recovered in suit or suits to be brought in the name of the state of North Carolina on relation of the corporation commission in the superior court of Wake county or of the county in which the violation of this article occurred; and it shall be the duty of the said corporation commission to bring such suits upon satisfactory information lodged with it; but no such suit shall be brought after the expiration of one year from the date of such violation; and it shall be the duty of the said corporation commission to lodge with the proper solicitors information of any such violations as may come to its knowledge. In all prosecutions under this article the common carrier shall be deemed to have had knowledge of all acts of all its officers and agents: Provided, that the provisions of this article shall not apply in any case of casualty or unavoidable accident or the act of God; nor where the delay was the result of a cause not known to the carrier or its officer or agent in charge of such employee at the time the said employee left a terminal, and which could not have been foreseen: Provided further, that the provisions of this article shall not apply to the crews of wrecking or relief trains: Provided further, this article shall not be construed to impose a penalty upon any common carrier for any act done in violation of the act of congress, ratified March the fourth, one thousand nine hundred and seven, and entitled "An act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by limiting the hours of service of employees thereon," or any acts amendatory thereof.

C. S., s. 6566; 1911, c. 112, s. 3.

190. Corporation commission's power. It shall be the duty of the corporation commission to execute and enforce the provisions. of this article, and all powers granted to the corporation commission are extended to it in the execution thereof.

C. S., s. 6567; 1911, c. 112, s. 4.