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EMPLOYMENT
make certain limited payments before Chinese New Year, 1966. These would be of two kinds. Labourers, semi-skilled labourers and artisans would receive advances of $25 a month for male staff and $15 a month for female staff, for each month of service between 1st April and 31st December 1965. These amounts would be con- tinued on in monthly paysheets until final decisions were taken on the Commission's recommendations. The rest of the service would receive a payment which was a continuation for a further seven months, up to the end of March 1965, of the award of the Com- mission's interim report. This was the 12 per cent increase over the levels set by the 1959 Salaries Commission. It was stated that no decision had been taken with regard to the levels of salaries and wages for the whole service recommended by the Commission to be effective from 1st April 1965.
The Factory and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance is the basis for the control of hours and conditions of work in industry. There are no legal restrictions on hours of work for men, most of whom in industry work 10 hours a day or less. Government employees and those in concerns operating on Western lines work eight hours. Regulations made under the ordinance provide for maximum daily hours, limited overtime, weekly rest days and rest periods for women and young persons. The Industrial Employment (Holidays with Pay and Sickness Allowance) Ordinance provides for six annual holidays to be given to workers in industrial establishments, and for sickness allowance up to 12 days a year.
Young persons between the ages of 14 and 16 may work only eight hours a day, with a break of one hour after five hours con- tinuous work. Children under the age of 14 are prohibited from working in industry, and no woman or young person is allowed to work at night or underground. Restrictions on the hours of work for women, introduced on 1st January 1959, have resulted in a decrease in the number of hours worked by men employed in the same concerns. By the end of 1965, 138 cotton spinning and silk weaving mills had introduced a system of three eight-hour daily shifts, cotton weaving mills were on either two or three shifts, and it was estimated that 30,832 men and 30,175 women were working eight hours a day. A rest period of one hour a day is customary throughout industry, but when working hours exceed eight a day, the rest period may be prolonged to as much as three