§ 79. Mr. Albuasked the Minister of Labour what exemptions from Acts relating to factories are still in operation under Regulation 59 of Defence (General) Regulations, 1939.
§ Mr. WoodIn accordance with the Defence Regulations (Number 2) Order, 1954, the powers conferred by paragraph 1 of Regulation 59 of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939, are at present exercisable only in respect of Part VI of the Factories Act, 1937, which regulates the employment in factories of women and young persons, and in respect of Section 29 (6) of the Factories Act, 1937, which relates to the periodical examination of steam boilers.
As regards the employment of women and young persons, there are two general exemptions still in operation, namely, the Factories (Evening Employment) Order, 1950, and the Cotton Factories (Length of Spell Exemption) Order, 1947. The latter is an automatic relaxation and no information is available about the number of factories which make use of it. On 31st August, 1958, 1,665 exemptions were current under the Evening Employment Order. In addition, on that date, a further 767 individual orders were current exempting particular factories from various provisions of Part VI of the Factories Act, 1937.
13WAs regards the periodical examination of steam boilers, there are 170 exemptions current in respect of particular boilers. These extend to 18 months the normal maximum interval of 14 months between examinations.