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Officer, Dr. Hickling, replied that the matter needed a full investigation, and for a beginning certain broad lines might be laid down. She suggested as such (1) the conditions which would constitute overcrowding in work places, (2) the ages at which children be admitted to factories, and (3) regulation of the hours children worked.
At a meeting of the Sanitary Board on 2 April 1919 Mr. Bowley said that though previous to the meeting he had submitted his intention to place before the Board resolutions concerning overcrowding in factories and child labour, he thought it would be better if the Board first appointed a sub-committee to investigate conditions and thresh the problem out before definite suggestions were placed before the full Board.
Mr. Bowley was the natural Chairman for the committee as he had shown special interest in the problem and was acquainted with the corresponding legislation on the subject in England, America and the British Colonies, and as the Chinese section of the community would be chiefly affected by such regulations, Mr. Chan Kai-ming and Mr. S. W. Tso were appointed along with the Sanitary Department's Medical Officer, Dr. A. D. Hickling. As the regulations would be dealing with the working conditions of women and children, it was appropriate that Dr. Hickling, a woman, be on the committee.
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At a meeting on 27 May, the sub-committee submitted its recommendations. An amendment was proposed to Section 16 of the Public Health and Building Ordinance of 1903 that children under the age of fourteen be prohibited from working in any factory for more than ten hours a day exclusive of meal times and that children under thirteen not be employed in any occupation likely to be injurious to their “life, limb or health, regard being had to his or her physical condition”. The committee also proposed an addition to Bylaw sub-section 13 of Section 16, that factories be regarded as overcrowded and therefore a danger to health if there was less than 250 cubic feet for every person employed, or during overtime after six p.m., 400 cubic feet per person.
The Sanitary Board had the power to require factories to provide adequate ventilation, cleanliness and latrine accommodation. There was no statutory definition of what constituted overcrowding hence the resolution included such a definition.
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