CO129-629-11 Manufacture of shirts 1-1-1950 - 30-11-1950 — Page 8

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9 Hong Kong haben. Dijit. — 28.2.20

Mr. H.P. Hall

Mr. Rosser

x laget

treaving

(See 12253/17

(encl. to (13) attached.)

I think that these papers should now be

registered.

2.

Regarding the specific questions raised by

the Secretary of State, not all are covered by the detailed comments of the Hong Kong Labour Department, which have now been received (on the Note at (7)) but the position would seem to be as follows :-

(a) No figures are available giving the proportion

of men to women employed but the division of work shown at 'X' on page 2 of the Report at (9) would seem to indicate a preponderance of men.X If this point is to be pursued we should also ask for details of the numbers of juveniles.

(b) The hours of employment of women and children

are, in the main, governed by legislation based on the following International Labour Conventions; No.5 (Minimum Age for Admission of Children to Industrial Employment); No.6 (Night Work of Young Persons Employed in Industry); No.41 (Employment of Women during the Night). The provisions of this legislation can be briefly summarised as follows :-

(i) No person under 14 years of age shall

be employed in an industrial undertaking;

(ii) No woman or young person (i.e. under

18 years of age) shall be employed in any industrial undertaking between the hours of 8.p.m. and 7.a.m.; The Commission of Labour has authority to authorise such employment in exceptional circumstances within defined limits;

(iii) No young person under 16 years of age

shall be employed in any industrial undertaking:

(a) between the hours of 7.0.p.m. and

7.0.a.m.;

(b) for more than 9 hours in any period

of 24 hours;

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for more than five hours continuously; without one day's rest in every seven.

At the end of June, 1949, 1,747 young persons

employed in industrial undertakings were registered with the Labour Department, each one of whom had been personally inspected and interviewed by the women members of the

Department.

(iv) The work of all women workers shall be

organised in shifts not exceeding 8 hours working time in any period of 24 hours. No such shift shall begin earlier than 6.0.a.m. nor end later than 10.0.p.m.

In the nine months ended 30th June, 1949, 7,751 inspections were carried out, 338 of these being at night. There were 45 prosecutions for illegal employment of women and 4 in respect of young persons. Convictions were recorded

in all cases.

A recent report/

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