stopped on Saturday at 6, 7, or 8 in the evening, it must be resumed on Sunday at the same hour; that is to say, that business must be proceeding during a part of Sunday.

On the other hand, the stoppage of work resulting from compulsory weekly rest may be used to secure the change of shifts from day to night, and vice versâ, in order to avoid any "doubling" of shifts.

It follows, therefore, that each of the two shifts will thus obtain 24 hours of consecutive rest in accordance with the Act. But, while rest is collective for each shift, it will not be so for the two shifts taken together, these having simultaneous rest only during 12 hours instead of during 24.

Thus, neither by the hour of its commencement and its close, nor by provision of simultaneous rest for the whole staff, does this system of rest, collective though it is in respect of each shift, fulfil the provisions of §1, and of the first paragraph of §2 of the said Act.

Nevertheless, the new provision legalises this rest, without permitting individual rotation, since it subjects the exemption from the general rule to two conditions: 12 hours of stoppage of work, and alternation of shifts. To impose a condition of 24 hours' stoppage, with alternation of shifts, would not have been legally possible, seeing that that would have meant an enforcement of 36 hours' rest, while the Act requires only one of 24 hours, and that the Senate, in debating the Act, expressly rejected a provision which would have extended the duration of the compulsory rest to 36 hours.

I beg you to see that all the provisions of the new Decree are put in force without delay. In a large number of establishments, you had sanctioned an organisation of rest by rotation until such time as this Order should be published, and in pursuance of my Circular No. 9 (§3, Sub-sections 10 and 11).* It is possible that certain of these establishments may not be included in any of the classes contemplated by §§ 1 and 2 of the Decree. In this case you must inform the interested parties that the sanction hitherto given is now withdrawn. Such manufacturers may, it is true, if they think proper, have recourse to the procedure established by §§2 and 8 of the Act. But, should such cases arise, you must keep in view the great weight attaching, from a technical point of view, to the opinion of the Consultative Committee of Arts and Manufactures, which, before deciding on the admission or rejection of any trade, made a searching investigation into the conditions of its working. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that on the occasion of the debates which took place in March last in the Chamber, all the speakers were at one in declaring that widely varying conditions might be imposed on one and the same industry in two different Departments. On the other hand, a large number of industrial employers' federations, representing industries which are carried on all over France, have pressed upon me the necessity of subjecting all competitors to the same system, save in very exceptional circumstances.

Therefore, should it appear to you that some industry stands in need of general regulation, and that rotation in its case is necessary, it would be desirable that, before issuing your Order, you should submit to me a draft clause to be added to the Decree which I, in my turn, can lay before the Consultative Committee if such industry should appear to have been passed over or if new arguments on the subject present themselves.

Finally, it is to be noted that the list contained in §1 enumerates, in separate clauses, all industries having perpetual furnaces which henceforward"

*See F.B. IV., p. 453.

are admitted to the right of giving weekly rest by rotation. But, until the publication of the Regulation which shall lay down the particular exceptions to be granted in respect of specialists in these factories, you will continue temporarily to sanction the various arrangements in respect of such specialists as you have already seen fit to accept on the basis of the instructions furnished on this point by my No. 9 Circular quoted above.

Kindly inform me without delay of any difficulty of interpretation or application to which the enforcement of the new Decree may give rise, adding your detailed opinion of each particular case.

I request you to distribute the copies of this Circular herewith enclosed among the officials under your orders.

2. Circulaire du 21 octobre 1907, du Ministre des Travaux publics aux préf.ts, sur l'extension à toutes les mines de combustibles de l'interdiction des lampes à feu nu et du régime adopté pour les explosifs dans les mines à grisou. (B.d. l'O. d.T., XIV., No. 11, novembre 1907, pp. 1218—1219.) 2. Circular, dated October 21st, 1907, addressed by the Minister of Public Works to the Prefects, on the extension to all inflammable mines of the prohibition of the use of naked lights and also of the system adopted in respect of explosives in mines subject to fire-damp.

3. Circulaire du 22 octobre 1907, du Ministre des Travaux publics, des Postes et des Télégraphes, et du Ministre du Travail et de la Prévoyance sociale, sur les avis d'accident à donner aux délégués à la sécurité des ouvriers mineurs. (B.d. l'O. d.T., XIV., No. 11, novembre 1907, pp. 1219-1220.)

8. Circular, dated October 22nd, 1907, of the Minister of Public Works, Posts and Telegraphs, and of the Minister of Labour and Friendly Societies, relating to notices of accidents to be forwarded to working miners' safety delegates.*

Complaints have, on several occasions, reached the Department, pointing out the failure to notify working miners' safety delegates of accidents resulting in incapacity to work during a longer or shorter period. Under the terms of the Departmental provision, emphasised and interpreted by the interministerial Circular of 11th July, 1899, mining employers are bound to notify the delegates of every accident resulting either in death or in serious injury; that is to say, resulting in incapacity for work during not less than 20 days.

In the circumstances above alluded to, the accidents of which no notification was made were probably considered by the medical men attached to the employing associations as in themselves of small importance; as a matter of fact, they did, however, result in temporary incapacity lasting more than 20 days. As a consequence, the delegates were unable to proceed usefully to the immediate verification of the facts which they are bound by the Act of 8th July, 1890, to undertake.

In order to provide against this contingency, which, in certain cases, might give rise to great inconveniences, please request clearly of the mining employers in your Department that they will henceforth consider all accidents touching the issue of which any doubt as to resulting incapacity may exist, as accidents likely to result in incapacity lasting more than 20 days, and to be notified, therefore, to the inspectors of mines and to the miners' delegates. You will be good enough at the same time to remind the interested parties of the penalties which they will incur in any case where their omission

*Addressed to the Prefects.

to notify shall be recognised as constituting a contravention of the provisions of the Act.

Enclosed you will find copies of this Circular in sufficient number to permit of distribution to every mining employer in your Department.

VI.

Great Britain and Ireland

1. Order of the Secretary of State, dated 23rd September 1907, applying the Provisions of §116 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, with Modifications to Factories and Workshops in which the Mixing, Casting or Manufacture of Brass or Articles of Brass is carried on. (Stat. Rules and Orders, 1907, No. 792.)

In pursuance of §116 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, I hereby make the following Order :

The provisions of the said Section shall apply, subject to the modifications hereinafter contained, to Factories and Workshops in which the undermentioned processes or any of them are carried on, and to out-workers employed in those processes, and the occupiers or contractors by whom they are employed :

The mixing, casting and manufacture of brass and of any articles or parts of articles of brass and the electro depositing of brass (including in the term brass any alloy or compound of copper with zinc or tin), except when carried on as a subsidiary process in shipbuilding yards or in marine locomotive or other engine building works, or in general engineering works, or in machine tool works.

The said Section shall be modified so as to read as follows:

(1) The occupier or contractor shall, for the purpose of enabling each worker who is paid by the piece to compute the total amount of wages payable to him in respect of his work, cause to be published particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work to be done, and also particulars of the work to which that rate is to be applied, as follows:

(a) He shall furnish every worker with particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work done by him, either

(i.) by handing him such particulars, in writing, when the work

is given out to him; or

(ii.) by supplying him with such particulars in writing at the time of his employment, and on every subsequent occasion when the rates are fixed or altered; or

(iii.) in the case of persons employed in a factory or workshop, by exhibiting such particulars in the factory or workshop on a placard containing no other matter than the rates of wages applicable to the work done in the factory or workshop, and posted in a position where it is easily legible by the workers.

Provided that if in any case the work given out is of a novel kind for which no rate of wages has been fixed, and if the employer and workman for the purpose of arriving at a rate for the work so agree, it shall not be necessary for particulars of the rate of wages to be furnished when the work is given out provided such particulars are furnished to the worker when the work is completed.

(b) Such particulars of the work given out to be done by each worker as affect the amount of wages payable to him shall be furnished to him in writing at the time when the work is given out to him.

(c) The particulars, either as to rate of wages or as to work, shall not be expressed by means of symbols; but this shall not prevent the occupier or contractor from describing any work which is of a standard kind known to the persons employed by a particular number, letter, or name, by means of such number, letter, or name.

(2) If the occupier or contractor fails to comply with the requirements of this Section, he shall be liable for each offence to a fine of not more than ten pounds, and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction within two years from the last conviction for that offence, not less than one pound. (3) If anyone engaged as a worker in any of the aforesaid classes of work, having received such particulars, whether they are furnished directly to him or to a fellow workman, discloses the particulars for the purpose of divulging a trade secret, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(4) If anyone for the purpose of obtaining knowledge of or divulging a trade secret, solicits or procures a person so engaged to disclose such particulars, or with that object pays or rewards any such persons, or causes any persons to be paid or rewarded for so disclosing such particulars, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

In this Order the term "out-worker means any person employed in the business of a factory or workshop outside the factory or workshop, whether directly by the occupier thereof or by any contractor employed by him, and also any person employed by the occupier of any place from which work is given out, or by a contractor employed by him.

This Order shall come into force on the 1st November, 1907.

2. Order of the Secretary of State, dated 26th December, 1907, granting Special Exception :-Substitution of another day for Saturday. (Stat. Rules and Orders, 1907, No. 1008.)

In pursuance of the powers conferred on me by $43 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, as amended by the Factory and Workshop Act, 1907, I hereby grant to the factories and workshops named in the Schedule to this Order, a special exception authorising the occupier to substitute some other day for Saturday as the weekly short day.

The Order of the 20th December, 1882, granting the said exception, is hereby revoked.

This Order shall come into force on the 1st day of January, 1908.

SCHEDULE.

Non-textile factories in which is carried on the printing of newspapers, or of periodicals, or of railway time tables, or of law or Parliamentary proceedings.

Non-textile factories and workshops in which is carried on any manufacturing process or handicraft in connection with a retail shop on the same premises.

Non-textile factories or workshops in which is carried on the manufacture of any article of wearing apparel, or of food.

Non textile factories and workshops in places in which the market day is Saturday, or in which a special day has been set apart for weekly half holidays. Laundries.

Order of the Secretary of State, dated 26th December, 1907, allowing separate Departments of Work to be treated as separate Factories or Workshops. (Stat. Rules and Orders, 1907, No. 1010.)

In pursuance of the powers conferred on me by §151 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, as amended by the Factory and Workshop Act, 1907, I hereby direct with respect to factories and workshops which are laundries that

different departments of work carried on in the same factory or workshop may, so far as regards the period of employment of women, young persons and children, be treated as if they were different factories or workshops, subject to the following conditions:

(1) There shall not be more than one such department dealing with. the same class of work.

(2) Every such department must be carried on :-

(a) under separate and distinct management, and

(b) by separate and distinct persons, that is to say, no person who is employed in one department may be employed in any other department. (3) In every such department a copy of the prescribed notice shall be kept affixed, with a complete list of the persons employed in that department. (4) This Order shall not have effect as regards a laundry unless and until the occupier of that laundry holds a certificate from the Inspector of the district to the effect that in his opinion the arrangements for carrying out the above conditions are satisfactory. Such certificate shall be in writing and shall be kept attached to the General Register, and shall be revocable at any time by one week's notice in writing from the Inspector of the district.

This Order shall come into force on the 1st day of January, 1908.

VII. Italy

I. Testo unico della legge sul lavoro delle donne e dei fanciulli approvato con Regio Decreto, 10 novembre 1907, n. 818. (B.d.U.d.l., IX, n. 1, Gennaio 1908, pp. 154-158.)

1. Uniform text of the Act relating to the employment of women and children, sanctioned by Royal Decree No. 818. (November 10th, 1907.)

1. (§1 of Act No. 416 of 7th July, 1907*.)

No child of either sex under the age of 12 years shall be employed in work in factories, workshops, building operations, or above ground in mines, quarries and pits.

Children may be employed below ground in mines, quarries and pits on the completion of the 13th year of their age, if mechanical traction is used; and otherwise, on the completion of the 14th year of their age; no female persons, of whatever age, shall be employed in such work.

Except in accordance with the provisions contained in the first paragraph of $4 of the Act, no child under the age of 15 years, and no female person under the age of 21 years, shall be employed in any dangerous processes, or in processes requiring excessive physical exertion or injurious to health, even if these are not carried on in the places named in the first paragraph. of this Section.

Children who have completed the 14th year of their age may be employed in the Sicilian sulphur mines in filling and emptying ovens.

2. (§2 of Act No. 242 of June 19th, 1902†, and §2 of Act No. 416 of July 7th, 1907.) No women or children shall be employed before having completed the 15th year of their age in any processes designated in this Act and in the regulations contemplated in §15, unless they are in possession of an employment book and of a medical certificate written in the said book, from which it shall appear that they are healthy and suited to the work in question. †See G.B. I., p. 548.

*See E.B. III., p. 292.