•
{
THE TIMES, FRIDAY, MARCH 8,
is is my garage.'
nien say anything. CHILD LABOUR IN
age and Messiter key. Heaw the morning after that, with the exception en he stayed with tway.
er, the witness now ce the young man
I mean Podmore ?-- r and Podmore go
er man go into the , who went in with
I cannot fix the Mr. Messiter came
I not see Podmore tober 29. He was ze when he last saw c together, and on that his chop was
ION PARADE. ou went to Bargate fore you, you knew and you knew it
"
?--Yes.
of various heights?
lar lot of men I had
nat the jury had oom in which the The light was very n fact, tle better
ae got down to two of them, but he was
were not sure it it was an important id you pick out this t it was this man.
it it was quite plain
a mistake at the id the inference was
ing a mistake now. Podmore in the news-
Court and he said
ade he was told that rong man, and in the was shot Podmore, sked if he was the man. the parade was very anding next to him. at there was no doubt garage on October 29, statement that he was to the car on that ness if they appeared
THE EAST.
PROBLEM IN INDIA
AND CHINA.
RELATIVES "PAWNED.”
of Nations Union was resumed yester- The conference organized by the League
day at the London School of Economics, the subject discussed at the morning session being "Woman and Child Labour in the East."
LORD LYTTON, who presided, said the work of the International Labour Organization of the League of Nations was helping the peoples of the world to realize their responsibilities for the conditions under which manufactures and foodstuffs were produced. The history of Britain's factory legislation had shown what abuses could arise in the early industrial
organization of a country and how
even
parents might connive at the enslavement of their children. Generally speaking, in all the industrial countries of Europe legis lation had been introduced for the protection of women and children, and in those countries conditions of their employment were approximating to something like a general standard. In countries in the East which had become industrialized, and in others which were in course of becoming industrialized, conditions existed analogous to those which had passed in those countries were keeping alive public into history in the West. Voluntary societies
opinion on the question, with the advantage West to guide them. Though Japan had not of the experience of the countries of the
ratified the Forty-eight Hours Convention, restricting the hours of employment of women that country had introduced many reforms
and children.
areas in India.
was
con-
LADY CHATTERJEE, wife of the High on the same evening stimulus of industrial developments
Commissioner for India, said that under the
ditions were changing rapidly in certain Overcrowding in tenements one of the results, with a consequent high death-rate. The infantile death-rate under one year for Bombay was 316 per 1,000 births, but in certain wards it was between 300 and 500 per 1,000 births. the infantile death-rate for 1927 was 326 per in Calcutta 1,000. Improvement trusts in both Calcutta and Bombay had improved housing con- ditions very considerably for industrial
and workers,
recent legislation, largely had improved very considerably the lot of influenced by international labour conferences, women and children by restricting the working hours and age of employment. Two diffi- culties that hindered the further expansion of industry were lack of imagination and the ignorance and apathy of the workers them- selves. To overcome the illiteracy of the workers meant making primary education needed was realization of the fact that the compulsory throughout India. What was
problems of industry were not the concern only of the organizers of industry or Government, but of the nation as a whole.
The witness: They e last afternoon I saw itated over something, le of the jury thought
not have been called. ' he said. "The wit- 1ot know whether it
not."
was not there to run
iore.
I object to that last
at he was there to see The evidence of the It imports, no profit he added.
bjected to the calling t if his remark was thdraw it.
urt until to-day the he inquest takes a t indicate what it is) but if it does not it
UTHS FIND.
•
the
DOMESTIC SLAVERY. DAME ADELAIDE ANDERSON, dealing with women and child labour in China, mentioned that the new draft legislation of the Nanking Government for factories provided for the establishment of a factory inspectorate, which alone marked the proposed legislation as a more serious plan than that of the defunct Peking Government.
>>
8, 1929.
a world-wide system of slavery so far as women were concerned. In many parts of the world women were still regarded as property, and it was time that women were given equal representation on all committees of the League of Nations to deal with such problems.
Mr. E. BATESON, a former Judge of the Egyptian Mixed Courts, presided at the afternoon session during a discussion on "Labour Systems Analogous to Slavery."
Mr. W. BENSON, member of the Diplomatic Division of the International Labour Organiza- tion at Geneva, stated that it was expected that next year the International Labour Con- ference would adopt a series of international.
Parliaments would depend agreements relating to forced labour, but the ratification of any convention by national opinion aroused in the countries represented. the public
Mr. CHARLES ROBERTS said he thought that through the channel open to them at Geneva people of good will in all countries had a lever throughout the world. in their hands to raise industrial conditions
on
Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Society, Mr. JOHN H. HARRIS, Secretary of the Anti- declared that there were three outstanding instances of slavery to-day--the natives around Lake Chad, the pearl divers of the Persian Gulf, and the "mui tsai" of China. Among systems analogous to slavery he mentioned the prevalence of
in Liberia and Sierra Leone, where, he said, a person could
pawning put a relative in pawn for a period in return for a sum of money. An officer whose duty it was to deal with a certain form of slave traffic, which involved the sale every year of some that one of the best preventive measures 5,000 boys and girls, had suggested to him
for pilgrims who should be allowed to go to would be for the Powers to fix a limit of ages Mecca. This, the officer thought, would stop Africa taking their children to Mecca for sale. parents from India, the East Indies, and
AUTOMATIC TRAIN
CONTROL.
SUGGESTION IN REPORT ON LONDON ACCIDENT. Colonel A. C. Trench, in his report to the Ministry of Transport on the accident at Lon- don Bridge Station on December 27, when a steam train from New Cross Gate to London Bridge came into sidelong collision with an electric train, stated that responsibility rested with the driver of the steam train, who made
adjoining one, a mistake in reading the signal in error for an
The Inspector stated that the support of one of the girder structures for overhead elec- tric wires was displaced and a portion of a girder fell on to the roof of another electric train. Some of the parapet wall of the viaduct was thrown into the street. Four trains were
involved, but owing to the officials' prompt action none of the succession of accidents was serious.
He thought that a possible cause of the driver's error might have been that for a moment he forgot on which line he was travel- ling.
He could only describe it as a serious case of careless driving, which fortunately was unattended by graver results.
The accident provided a strong case in favour of automatic train control in congested tion of colour light signalling was particularly areas with dense traffic. Up-to-date installa-
conspicuous. If an experienced driver care- lessly permitted himself to misread such indications, owing to momentary mental aberration, and if disciplinary measures failed to have the necessary deterrent effect, it seemed difficult to provide against failure of the human element other than by automatic
means.
HOUSE PURCHASE SWINDLER SENTENCED.
The REV. W. W. CLAYSON, a missionary, dealt with the question of domestic slavery in China. He described in particular the "mui tsai system, by which poor parents,
Sentence of 12 months' imprisonment, in the ! under economic stress, sold their children into second division, was passed by the Common domestic slavery. The best Chinese opinion Serjeant (Sir Henry Dickens, K.C.) at the was opposed to the system, and the Nationalist | Central Criminal Court on Wednesday on Government's programme provided for its ARTHUR LEAF, 41, an estate agent, formerly in business at Southend, who was found Mr. CHARLES ROBERTS, president of the | Guilty of fraudulently converting to his Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection | ovu use £375 and £450 entrusted to Society, stated that seven years ago Mr him for the purpose of purchasing houses Churchill gave a pledge on behalf of the at Southend. He pleaded "Not Guilty." Government to abolish the “ mui tsai ” system. Mr. Tindal Atkinson prosecuted; Mr. in Hong kong, but his society had discovered. Clade Grundy and Mr. P. M. Beecheno de- quite recently that it was still in force. He appreciated the Government's difficulties in dealing with the private households of Chinese in Hong-kong, but he thought it was fair to expect the redemption of the pledge and the removal of the scandal.
SSIDY, 10, page boy, 18, porter, appeared London Police Court 'ge of stealing by find-abolition. ad ring stated to be said they picked up in Mr. J. Mac- for the two boy said Glasgow. They ame sion to get work, and
to pick up the ring the police, no owner the ring, numbers of claim it; in fact, sgow seemed to have (Laughter.) The ouths over in the sum as on condition that
.
Mrs. PETHICK-LAWRENCE, Women's Freedom League, said that underneath all questions of forced labour and contract labour there was
ferded. It was stated by Detective-sergeant Fetcher that Leaf was unemployed for some time at Southend, and he acted as chairman and spokesman of the local unemployed. Later he carried on various small agencies. The COMMON SERJEANT directed that £200 found in Leaf's possession on his arrest at Grimsby, should be divided equally between the tw complainants.
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