do not apply, and in which more than forty persons are employed, it shall be the duty of the sanitary authority of every district, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, and afterwards from time to time, to ascertain whether all the factories within their district are provided with the means of escape as aforesaid, and, in the case of any factory which is not so provided, to serve on the owner of the factory a notice in writing specifying the measures necessary, and requiring him to carry out the same before a specified date, and thereupon the owner shall, notwithstanding any agreement with the occupier, have power to take such steps as are necessary for complying with the requirements, and, unless such requirements are complied with, the owner shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one pound for every day that such non-compliance continues. In case of a difference of opinion between the owner of the factory and the sanitary authority, the difference shall, on the application of either party, be referred to arbitration. The parties to the arbitration shall be the sanitary authority on the one hand and the owner on the other, and the award on the arbitration shall be binding on the parties thereto. If the owner alleges that the occupier of the factory ought to bear or contribute to the expenses of complying with the requirement, he may apply to the county court having jurisdiction where the factory is situate, and thereupon the county court, after hearing the occupier, may make such order as appears to the court just and equitable (Sec. 7, i. and ii. 1891).] III. WITH REGARD TO EMPLOYMENT AND MEAL HOURS The Act provides: The occupier of a factory or workshop shall specify, in a notice affixed in the factory, &c., the period of Notices to employment, the times allowed for meals, and be affixed. whether the children are employed on the system of morning and afternoon sets or of alternate days. The periods of employment, &c., shall be deemed to be those specified in such notice; and all the children in the factory, &c., shall be employed on either of these systems, according as is specified in Unless the context otherwise requires, child means a person under the age of fourteen years; young person means a person of the age of fourteen years and under the age of eighteen years; woman means a woman of eighteen years of age and upwards. PERIODS OF EMPLOYMENT. 193 such notice. But the occupier may from time to time, within the limits allowed by the Act, alter such notice, provided that a change shall not be made until after the occupier has served on an inspector, and affixed in the factory or workshop, notice of his intention to make such change, and shall not be made oftener than once a quarter, unless for special cause allowed in writing by an inspector (Sec. 19). employment. With respect to the Employment of Young Persons and Women in a Textile Factory, it is provided: The period of employment Hours of shall either begin at 6 A.M. and end at 6 P.M., or begin at 7 A.M. and end at 7 P.M., except on Saturday, when the period of employment shall begin either at 6 A.M. or at 7 A.M. Where the period of employment on Saturday begins at 6 A.M., that period shall end at 1 P.M. as regards employment in any manufacturing process, and at 1.30 P.M. as regards employment for any other purposes, if not less than one hour is allowed for meals; and at 12.30 and 1 P.M. respectively, if less than one hour is allowed for meals. Where the period of employment on Saturday begins at 7 A.M., that period shall end at 1.30 P.M. as regards any manufacturing process, and at 2 P.M. as regards employment for any other purposes. There shall be allowed for meals during the said period on every day except Saturday not less than two hours, of which one hour at least shall be before 3 P.M., and on Saturday not less than half an hour. A young person or woman shall not be employed continuously for more than four hours and a half without at least half an hour's interval for a meal (Sec. 11). With respect to the Employment of Children in a Textile Factory, the Act provides: Children shall not be employed except on the Morning and afternoon sets. system either of morning and afternoon sets or of alternate days only. The period of employment for a child in a morning set shall, except on Saturday, begin at the same hour as if the child were a young person and end at 1 P.M., or at the beginning of dinner time if that time begins * The expression "textile factory" means any premises wherein or within the close or curtilage of which steam, &c., is used to move or work machinery employed in preparing, manufacturing, or finishing, or in any process incident to the manufacture of cotton, wool, hair, silk, flax, hemp, jute, tow, chinagrass, cocoa-nut fibre, or other like material either separately or mixed together, or mixed with any other material or any fabric made thereof. Provided that print works, bleaching and dyeing works, lace warehouses, paper mills, flax scutch mills, rope works, and hat works shall not be deemed to be textile factories (Sec. 93). before 1 o'clock. In an afternoon set the period shall, except on Saturday, begin at 1 P.M., or at any later hour at which the dinner time terminates, and end at the same hour as if the child were a young person. On Saturday the period shall begin and end at the same hour as if the child were a young person. A child shall not be employed in two successive periods of seven days in a morning set, nor in two successive periods of seven days in an afternoon set, and shall not be employed on two successive Saturdays, nor on Saturday in any week, if on any other day in same week his period, &c., has exceeded 5 hours. When a child Alternate is employed on alternate day system the period, &c., day system. and the time allowed for meals shall be the same as if the child were a young person, but the child shall not be employed on two successive days, and shall not be employed on the same day of the week in two successive weeks. A child shall not on either system be employed continuously for any longer period than he could be if he were a young person without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal (Sec. 12). By the Act of 1883 it is declared that, notwithstanding anything in Section 12 of the Act of 1878, the period of employment for a child in an afternoon set in a factory or workshop where the dinner-time does not begin before two o'clock in the afternoon may begin at noon, provided that in such cases the period of employment in the morning set shall end at noon. Exceptions. If the period of employment for young persons and women in textile factories used solely for the making of elastic web, ribbon, or trimming begins at 7 A.M., and the whole time between that hour and 8 o'clock is allowed for meals, a child, young person, or woman shall not, between 1st November and 31st March next following, be prevented being employed continuously without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal for the same period as if the factory were a non-textile factory. Where it is proved to the satisfaction of a Secretary of State that in any other class of textile factories the persons employed require it, he may extend this exception (Sec. 48). The regulations with respect to the employment of young persons in textile factories shall not prevent the employment in the part of a textile factory in which a machine for the manufacture of lace is moved by steam, &c., of any male young person above the age of sixteen years between 4 A.M. and 10 P.M., if he is employed in accordance with the following conditions, viz. (a) where such young person is employed on any day before the beginning or after the end of PERIODS OF EMPLOYMENT. 195 the ordinary period of employment, he shall be allowed for meals between 4 A.M. and 10 P.M., not less than nine hours; (b) where such young person is employed on any day before the beginning of the ordinary period of employment he shall not be employed on the same day after the end of that period; and (c) where such young person is employed on any day after the end of the ordinary period of employment, he shall not be employed next morning before the beginning of the ordinary period of employment. For the purpose of this exception the ordinary period of employment means the period for young persons under the age of sixteen years or women in the factory; or if none are employed, means such period as can under the Act be fixed for the employment of such young persons and women, and notice of such period shall be affixed (Sec. 44). Hours of employment. With respect to the Employment of Young Persons and Women in a Non-textile Factory and of Young Persons in a Workshop, the Act provides: The period of employment, except on Saturday, shall (unless specially excepted) either begin at 6 A.M. and end at 6 P.M., or begin at 7 A.M. and end at 7 P.M. The period of employment on Saturday shall (unless specially excepted) begin at 6 A.M., or at 7 A.M., and end at 2 P.M. There shall be allowed for meals during the said period on every day except Saturday not less than one hour and a half, of which one hour at least shall be before 3 P.M., and on Saturday not less than half an hour. A young person or a woman in a nontextile factory, and a young person in a workshop, shall not be employed continuously for more than five hours without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal (Sec. 13). The expression "non-textile factory means (1) any of the following places, viz., print works, bleaching and dyeing works, earthenware works, lucifer match works, percussion-cap works, cartridge works, paper-staining works, fustian-cutting works, blast furnaces, copper mills, iron mills, foundries, metal and india-rubber works, paper mills, glass works, tobacco factories, letterpress printing works, bookbinding works, flax scutch mills; (2) any of the following premises or places wherein or within the close or curtilage or precincts of which steam, &c., power is used in aid of the manufacturing process carried on, viz., hat works, rope works, bakehouses, lace warehouses, ship-building yards, quarries, pit banks; (3) any premises wherein or within the close, &c., of which any manual labour is exercised by way of trade or for purposes of gain in or incidental to any of the following purposes, viz., the making of any article or part of any article, the altering, repairing, ornamenting, or finishing of any article, the adapting for sale of any article, and wherein or within the close, &c., of which steam, &c., power is used in aid of the manufacturing process carried on (Sec. 93). Period of [The period of employment on Saturday for a employment young person or woman in a non-textile factory on Saturday. or workshop may be from 6 A.M. to 4 P.M., with an interval of not less than two hours for meals-if the period of employment of such young person or woman has not exceeded eight hours of any day in the same week, and notice of such nonemployment has been affixed and served on the inspector (Sec. 15, 1891).] and after noon sets. With respect to the Employment of Children in a Non-textile Factory or a Workshop the Act provides: Children shall not be Morning employed except either on the system of morning and afternoon sets, or (in a factory or workshop in which not less than two hours are allowed for meals on every day except Saturday) on the system of alternate days Alternate only. The period for a child in a morning set on day system. every day, including Saturday, shall begin at 6 or 7 A.M., and end at I P.M., or at the beginning of dinner time, if that time begins before 1 o'clock. The period for a child in an afternoon set on every day, including Saturday, shall begin at I P.M., or at any hour later than 12.30 P.M., at which the dinner time terminates, and end on Saturday at 2 P.M., and on any other day at 6 or 7 P.M., according as the period for children in the morning set began at 6 or 7 A.M. A child shall not be employed in two successive periods of seven days in a morning set, nor in two successive periods of seven days in an afternoon set, and shall not be employed on Saturday in any week in the same set in which he has been employed on any other day of the same week. When a child is employed on the alternate day system the period shall, except on Saturday, either begin at 6 A.M. and end at 6 P.M., or begin at 7 A.M. and end at 7 P.M.; the period of employment for such child shall on Saturday begin at 6 or 7 A.M. and end at 2 P.M.; there shall be allowed to such child for meals during the said period not less on any day, except Saturday, than two hours, and on Saturday not less than half an hour; the child shall not be employed on two successive days, and shall not be employed on the same day of the week in two successive weeks. A child shall not on either system be employed continuously for more than five hours without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal (Sec. 14). By the Act of 1883 it is declared that, notwithstanding anything in Section 14 of the Act of 1878, the period of employment for a child in an afternoon set in a factory or workshop where the |