as below ground except persons employed in offices, boarding houses and bunk-houses. This amendment became operative on March 31, 1919.

Statutory regulation of the hours of adult workers in coal mines began in British Columbia in 1903-4 (c. 38) with an amendment to the Coal Mines Regulation Act. This measure provided that no person should be employed underground in any coal mine for more than eight hours from bank to bank in every twenty-four hours. The law did not become operative until July 1, 1905. In reporting on the subject at the annual meeting in 1905 the British Columbia executive committee of the Trades and Labor Congress stated that although there had been no statutory regulation of the hours of labor in coal mines before this enactment, the eight-hour day had been generally accepted. However, in shaft mines the starting and quitting time commenced and ended at the bottom of the shaft, and in slope mines at a given point in the slope, rather than at the mouth of the shaft or slope, or from "bank to bank" as required by the new provision. The committee reported that all the coalmining companies had accepted the new conditions with the exception of the Western Fuel Company, which had not operated its mines from the time the law became effective.1

By an amending act of 1905 (c. 35) it was made clear that the penalties of the original act applied in the case of the amendment just indicated. This amendment was found necessary because of the dismissal of a charge brought by the union against a miner for working more than eight hours in one day, in violation of the act. The miner was fined by two justices of the peace but a higher court ruled that as the section under which the charge was laid did not provide that the act of working overtime was an offence

1 Trades and Labor Congress, 1905, p. 19.

In a simi

under the law, the justices had no jurisdiction. lar violation after the passing of the amendment the miner and the manager of the colliery were both fined."

By the consolidating law of 1911 (c. 33) another exception was made. It was provided that where more than two shifts were worked, workers of certain specified occupations might be relieved at the place of duty. In no case could any such person remain underground more than eight hours and thirty minutes from "bank to bank" in any one calendar day of twenty-four hours, although extra hours for such persons were permitted when necessitated by a weekly change of shift where more than two shifts were worked. The exemptions in case of emergency were extended to permit longer hours of employment in order to save property in case of accident, and it was made clear that the manager or overman was in no way prohibited from entering a mine and remaining there at any time in the necessary discharge of his duties. Exemption was also made in the case of pumpmen or engineers in charge of constantly running machinery who had to deal with an emergency requiring immediate attention and which, if neglected, would necessitate the closing of the mine. Penalties were applied to persons receiving payment for work in excess of the legal hours as well as to persons making the payment.

In 1918 (c. 54) a provision with regard to hours of employment above ground was added. These hours were limited to eight in twenty-four but the limitation did not apply to persons employed in the office, boarding-house or bunkhouse of any mine, nor to persons detained more than the legal number of hours in order to save or protect life or to save property in case of accident.

Rex v. Carroll, Ladysmith, B. C., June 7, 1905. Labour Gazette, vol. vi, p. 229.

'Rex v. Anea; Rex v. Matthews, Nanaimo, B. C., Nov. 4, 1905. Labour Gazette, vol. vi, p. 693.

The trade unions in British Columbia failed in an effort to secure the eight-hour day for smelter workmen in 1905,1 but they were successful in 1907 (c. 23) when the Labor Regulation Act was passed. This law provided that no person should be "employed in or about any smelter, sorting, handling, removing or smelting ores, slag or matter in any stage of preparation for a longer period than eight hours in any twenty-four hours" and penalties were imposed on both employer and employee for violation of this provision.

An amendment was added in the 1908 session (c. 28) which permitted employment of workmen on days when shifts were changed for whatever longer periods might be necessary to make the change.

In 1911 the provincial executive of the Trades and Labor Congress asked that the eight-hour legislation should be extended to all men employed in and around smelters, stamp mills, concentrators and rock-crushers, but at that time the government refused to carry out the request.'

In 1918 (c. 40) the act was amended to apply as well to workers in coke-ovens, concentrators and mineral-separation plants. This did not apply to persons employed in the offices, boarding-houses or bunk-houses connected with those plants, and it was provided that the eight-hour day might be exceeded in case of accident.

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories in an ordinance passed in 1899 (c. 4) amended its Coal Mines Regulation Ordinance by adding a provision that the hours of employment underground in coal mines should be limited to eight in every twenty-four hours, exclusive of the time taken in descending 1 Trades and Labor Congress, 1905, p. 19.

2 Ibid., 1911, p. 19.

and ascending from the mine. This clause was repealed, however, in 1900 (c. 3).

Alberta

In the province of Alberta the hours of employment in mines were established by a law of 1908 (c. 17) entitled "An act to amend the Coal Mines Regulation Act for the purpose of limiting the hours of work below ground." This law provided that coal miners should not be employed underground more than eight hours during any consecutive twenty-four hours, the work-period to be counted as the time between leaving the surface and returning to the surface. Longer hours were permitted in case of accident or emergency and a repairing shift, to avoid Sunday work, might begin work on Saturday after only eight hours' rest. The eight-hour limit applied to all except officials of the mine and a few specified occupations. The workmen in any coal mine were given the right to appoint at their own cost one or more of their number to observe the times of raising and lowering men at the shaft, and it was required that the times of raising and lowering should be entered in a register and the cause of any detention of the miners underground past the eight-hour limit was also to be explained in the register. The LieutenantGovernor was empowered to suspend the regulations as to hours of work for all or any class of miners "in the event of great emergency or of any grave economic disturbance due to the demand for coal exceeding the supply available at the time." There has been no change in these provisions.

Ontario

In Ontario, legislation with regard to hours of labor in mines was confined until 1913 to the regulation of hours for boys. As early as 1899 the Trades and Labor Congress

instructed its Ontario executive committee to work for an eight-hour day for employees underground,1 but the request was not pressed vigorously until a decade later. In 1908 the committee advised the Congress that they had urged this matter upon the attention of the provincial government,2 and the next year they reported another call upon the government, during which the discussion on this point "was quite warm between Vice-President Simpson and Premier Whitney." In 1910 the committee again reported having asked for a miners' eight-hour day law,* and they reported two years later on a request for an eight-hour shift wherever work was continued for twenty-four hours."

In 1913 (c. 10) "An act to amend the Mining Act of Ontario in respect to the hours of underground employment" was placed on the statute books. Industrial Canada records that when the measure was introduced in the legislature a protest was made on behalf of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association

against the principle of restricting by law the freedom of employer and employee to adapt the terms of their employment to their mutual convenience. Assurances were received that the legislation adopted by the government was based upon the special circumstances and conditions of employment in mines and not to be taken as implying any general approval of the principle of fixing an eight-hour day by law."

This law brought into force the hours of employment in mines as they now stand in the province of Ontario and

1 Trades and Labor Congress, 1899, p. 28.