but there is also much of permanent value (including the groundwork of the introduction), which has been carefully retained. This Edition contains the following Acts in full :— Factory and Workshop Act, 1878; And such portions of the following Acts, for the Truck Amendment Act, 1887; Public Health (London) Act, 1891; Such portions of any of the above Acts as have been repealed are printed in italics and enclosed in square brackets; and special notes are attached to such parts as were temporary or are now obsolete. JASPER A. REDGRAVE. H. S. SCRIVENER. THE FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACTS, 1878-1895. THE INTRODUCTION.(a) HE first Act which was passed to regulate labour in factories was the "Act for the preservation of the Health and Morals of Apprentices and others employed in Cotton and other Mills, and Cotton and other Factories" (42 Geo. 3, c. 73); and the last Act previous to the Act of 1878 followed upon the lines of the first Act; it was intituled “An Act to make better provision for improving the Health of Women, Young Persons, and Children employed in Manufactories, and the Education of such Children, and otherwise to amend the Factory Acts" (37 & 38 Vict. c. 44). The Act of Geo. 3 was in fact directed in the first place to the due cleansing of the factories, by two washings with quicklime yearly, to the admission of (a) This introduction, originally written by the late ALEXANDER REDGRAVE, Esq., C.B., is now slightly amended. The necessary alterations have been made in the original " Tabular Analysis contained therein, and also in such portions of the matter as would otherwise be out of date. fresh air by means of a sufficient number of windows, and to the yearly supply to every apprentice of sufficient and suitable clothing. It next prohibited nightwork, and excessive labour in the day; and, lastly, required all apprentices to be instructed in the principles of the Christian religion, and that those who were members of the Church of England should be examined annually by a clergyman, and be prepared at the proper age for confirmation. These regulations existed upon the statute book until repealed by the Act of 1878 (41 Vict. c. 16); but with the exception of those parts relating to a sufficiency of clothing and supervision of morals, which from the system of apprenticeship no longer existing under the circumstances which prevailed in 1802, are now altogether unnecessary,-all the main intentions of that statute are carried out by the recent legislation. The history of the Ten-hour question has yet to be written. One or two accounts have been published by persons mixed up with the events which they describe valuable, doubtless, from being the impressions of eye witnesses, but of scarcely sufficient grasp of the whole subject to do justice to a great public movement. From this description, however, must be excepted the interesting book by E. E. Von Plener, "The English Factory Legislation."(a) When (a) "The English Factory Legislation," by Ernest Edler Von Plener, First Secretary to the Imperial and Royal AustroHungarian Embassy in London. Chapman and Hall, 1873. ever the question be taken in hand, the Factory and Workshop Act of 1878 will be the starting point from which the subject will naturally be approached, for in it the steps by which each advance was made may be traced; and though no longer in itself a complete exposition of the law relating to Factories and Workshops, it still stands out as the principal Act, the codification of all previous, and the basis of all subsequent, legislation. The movement in 1802 was sanitary as well as educational; it was the first step in the cause of sanitary improvement, and to the influence of Factory Legislation, and to the enquiries into the employment of women and children, may be credited subsequent legislation for the health of towns. Thus, while the Act of 1878 was essentially a consolidating Act, it maintained the great distinction which Factory Legislation has always observed in dealing with juvenile and female labour. That to which public attention was first called in 1802, was the labour in cotton and woollen factories in which more than twenty persons were employed. It was not until power was employed to move spinning frames, and afterwards looms, that the evils of excessive labour became so painfully evident. Hence legislation first dealt with spinning and weaving factories moved by power; then with other cognate occupations in which steam or water-power was used,-printworks, bleachworks, dyeworks, and lace factories. Next, in 1864, it was extended to certain occupations in which mechanical power might or might not be used; and, lastly, by the Acts of 1867 various enumerated trades were legislated for as factories, and all others as workshops. These later Acts, embracing within their far-extending definitions nearly every trade and occupation in the country, were necessarily incomplete and experimental. Exceptions and modifications were authorised which might possibly be requisite, rather than upon proof that they were indispensable, so that by the time the last of these several Acts had received the Royal assent there was a perfect chaos of regulations-all good in themselves when enacted—all having a direct purpose, which most of the trades have outlived, and which required constant care and consideration to prevent an application of them which would have imperilled that impartiality and that uniformity of administration which are absolutely essential to secure harmonious and cheerful co-operation. It was assigned to a Royal Commission, in the latter part of the year 1875, to take all these statutes under review, to consider their various enactments, modifications, and exceptions, to take such evidence as they thought requisite, and then to submit a proposition for bringing into harmony the incongruous mass of provisions which encumbered the statute book. The Commissioners set to work with the utmost activity, and took evidence upon all the points committed to them, both in London and in various manufacturing |