HC Deb 25 February 1930 vol 235 c2079W
Mr. SMITHERS

asked the Minister of Labour the number of hours per day worked by the operators in Japanese yarn and cotton mills?

Miss BONDFIELD

I understand that, since 1st July, 1929, the operatives in Japanese cotton mills work a daily shift of 8½ hours, and that two such shifts a day are worked by the mills. There is no legislation in Japan governing the hours of labour of male workers over 16 years of age in factories; but the Factory Act fixes the maximum working hours for boys under 16 and all female workers at 11 a day, inclusive of one hour's rest. By an Ordinance of 7th June, 1926, employers are permitted, up to 31st August, 1931, to prolong this maximum to 12 hours a day in spinning mills where only one shift a day is worked. Moreover, Section 4 of the Factory Act, which came into force on 1st July, 1929, prohibits night work (that is work between 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., in special cases, and 5 a.m.) for all women workers and for boys under 16, and it is understood that this prohibition has resulted in an almost general reorganisation of work in Japanese cotton mills on a basis of two shifts of 8½ hours each.

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