on, for example, the prohibition of underground work by women, night work by women and young persons and the minimum age of employment in industry and at sea, are applied in the Colony. The Factory and Workshops Ordinance, 1937, the Employers and Servants Ordinance, 1902, and the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance, 1948 form the basis of three major divisions of the Labour Depart- ment's work, while the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs administers the Female Domestic Servants Ordinance, 1923, and the Asiatic Emigration Ordinance, 1915. There has been no occasion to invoke the Illegal Strikes and Lock-outs Ordinance, 1949. The numerous problems arising from the Workmen's Compensation Bill were still under intensive examination by the Labour Advisory Board and Labour Department at the end of the year.
Labour Organization
A delegation, consisting of the chairman of the Employers' Federation, a representative of Chinese labour and a Labour Officer, attended the regional conference of the International Labour Organization in Ceylon early in the year. The conference proved of considerable value and provided an opportunity for interesting contacts with other delegations.
The main work of registration of trade unions had been com- pleted by the end of 1949. During 1950 seventeen workers' unions and three employers' associations were added to the list, making a total of 280 registered organizations.
Shortage of staff in the Labour Department during most of the year unfortunately made it impossible to carry out the proposed programme of organizing film-shows and lectures for trade unions. In the meantime efforts have been concentrated on trying to secure from the unions a stricter compliance with the provisions of the Trade Unions Ordinance in such matters as punctual submission of annual returns of membership, officials and funds and obtaining approval for appointments of auditors. Many union officials are still ignorant of the basic provisions of the Ordinance and sometimes even of their own rules. As an aid to development a pamphlet explaining simply the main provisions of the Trade Unions Ordinance was being prepared at the end of the year for issue in Chinese to all unions. Other difficulties have been the tendency of many unions to spend union funds, both unlawfully and improvidently, on entertainment instead of on more practical benefits for their members, the intrusion of external political factors, lack of sound leadership and more recently the threat in some unions of decrease in funds through unemployment and other causes. In some cases disagreement within unions on questions of Chinese politics has led to the formation of breakaway unions which claim to be non-political in character.
In July three members of a Far Eastern delegation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions came to the Colony and were entertained by the Trades Union Council, one of the two principal trade union blocs in the Colony. The establishment of a branch of the Confederation in Singapore later in the year was noted with interest and the official in charge of this new office paid a visit to the Colony.
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