Sir S. BENNasked the President of the Board of Trade whether France has passed legislation adopting the principle of eight hours per day and 48 hours per week; and if she has put it in force?
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§ Miss BONDFIELDI have been asked to reply. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of a Report prepared: by the International Labour Office in October, 1922, on "Hours of Labour in Industry, Franco." The Report includes the text of French legislation adopting the principle of the 8 hours day or 48 hours week and refers to public administrative regulations which have been made to determine for any given trade, etc., the time limits and conditions under which the principle above referred to shall be applied. According to an official statement made in connection with the Estimates of the French Ministry of Labour for the financial year 1923 there had been issued, up to the end of 1922, twenty-four public administrative orders in application of the French eight-hour day law. These covered 2,878,500 workers. In addition, eighteen similar orders affecting a further 1,500,000 workers had been drafted, or were in preparation, by the 29th March, 1923. It is not known whether the whole of these further orders have by now been promulgated; but, on the assumption that they have, it may be inferred that at the present time the principle of the eight-hour day or 48-hour week is being applied to about one-half of the workers in France.