place a notice referring to the provisions of this section, and stating the number of hours in the week during which a young person may lawfully be employed in or about the shop.

This section is to apply to wholesale shops and to warehouses in which assistants are employed for hire, but not to any person wholly employed as a domestic servant.

Closing of Shops.-Besides these provisions for the protection of individual shop-assistants, the Shops Act, 1912, contains provisions under which every shop, save for exceptions allowed by the Act, must be closed for the serving of customers not later than I P.M. on one week-day in every week; closing orders may also be made fixing the hours on the several days of the week at which, either throughout the area of the local authority or in any specified part thereof, all shops or shops of any specified class are to be closed for serving customers, but the hour fixed by the Closing Order is not to be earlier than 7 P.M. on any day of the week. The provisions of the Act in these respects are set out in Appendix VI. (i).

Seats for Female Assistants in Shops.-Under Section 3 of the Shops Act, 1912, in all rooms of a shop where female shop-assistants are employed in the serving of customers, the occupier of the shop must provide seats behind the counter, or in such other position as may be suitable for the purpose, and such seats must be in the proportion of not less than one seat to every three female shop-assistants employed in each

room.

CHAPTER XII

PARTICULARS OF WORK AND WAGES

THE introduction of piece-work puts wages on a new basis, and amongst other things it means that the calculation of wages becomes, or may become, a matter so complicated as to give an educated master a considerable advantage over his incompletely educated work-people. At a very early stage in factory industry the device was introduced of giving out with the work a note or ticket containing particulars as to the work to be done and the wages to be paid. The Arbitration Act of 1824 (Section 18) provided "that with every piece of work given out by the manufacturer to workmen to be done, there shall, if both parties are agreed, be delivered a note or ticket in such form as the said parties shall mutually agree upon, and which said note or ticket, in the event of dispute between the manufacturer and workman, shall be evidence of all matters and things mentioned therein, or respecting the same."

Hosiery Act, 1845, and Silk Weavers Act, 1845.-The first instance of an employer being compelled to give a ticket containing particulars of work to be done and wages to be paid is furnished by the Hosiery Act, 1845, certain sections of which are still in force.

In the 1st Section it is enacted that when any manufacturer of hosiery, or the agent of any such manufacturer, gives out to a workman the materials to be wrought, such manufacturer or agent shall at the same time deliver to such workman a printed or written ticket, signed by such manufacturer, containing the particulars of the agreement between

such manufacturer and such workman as in the Schedule to the Act; and such manufacturer or agent delivering such ticket shall make or cause to be made, and shall preserve until the work contracted to be done shall have been completed or paid for, a duplicate of such note or ticket. Under Sections 2 and 3, in the event of any dispute between the manufacturer or his agent and the workman, such ticket and the duplicate shall be required to be produced, and shall, together or either of them, be evidence of all things mentioned therein or respecting the same, but where the subject of dispute relates to the alleged improper or imperfect execution of any work delivered to a manufacturer or his agent, such piece of work shall be produced in order to adjudication, or if not produced, shall be deemed and taken to have been sufficiently and properly executed.

The 4th Section imposes a penalty on the manufacturer for non-delivery of a ticket. The 9th Section defines a ' manufacturer' as 'any person furnishing the materials or work to be wrought into hosiery goods, to be sold or disposed of on his own account'; an 'agent' as ' any person conveying or delivering the same to the workman'; and 'workman' as any person actually employed in the manufacture of the

same.'

The Schedule to the Act will be found in Appendix XII. (a).

On much the same lines is the Silk Weavers Act, 1845. This enacts that when any manufacturer of silk goods or of goods made of silk mixed with other materials, or the agent of any such manufacturer, gives out to a weaver of such goods a piece of warp to be woven, such manufacturer or agent shall at the same time deliver to such weaver (unless both parties shall by writing under their respective hands agree to dispense therewith) a printed or written ticket signed by such manufacturer or agent containing the following particulars of the agreement between such manufacturer or agent and such weaver (that is to say):

The count or richness of the warp or cane.

The number of shoots or picks required in each inch.

The number of threads of weft to be used in each shoot.

The name of the manufacturer or the style of the firm under which he carries on business.

The weaver's name, with the date of the engagement.

And the price in sterling money agreed on for executing each yard imperial standard measure of thirty-six inches of such work in a workman-like manner.

The provisions as to duplicate tickets, the admission of the tickets as evidence, and the production of alleged bad work are the same as in the Hosiery Act, 1845.

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The Factory Acts. By the Factory and Workshop Act, 1891, particulars were made compulsory in textile factories. In the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, the section as to particulars' still relates only to textile factories, but since 1895 the Secretary of State has had power to extend these provisions by Special Order to non-textile factories, and to any class of workshops except men's workshops, and considerable use has been made of this power.

The provisions of the Act will first be set out, and then a summary of the Special Orders will be given.

'Particulars' in Textile Factories.-Under Section 116— (1) In every textile factory the occupier must, for the purpose of enabling each worker who is paid by the piece to compute the total amount of wages payable to him in respect of his work, cause to be published particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work to be done, and also particulars of the work to which that rate is to be applied, as follows:

(a) In the case of weavers in the worsted and woollen, other than the hosiery, trades, the particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work done by each weaver, shall be furnished to him in writing at the time when the work is given out to him, and shall also be exhibited on a placard not containing any other matter, and posted in a position where it is easily legible.

(b) In the case of weavers in the cotton trade, the particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work to be done by each weaver shall be furnished to him in writing at the time when the work is given out to him, and the basis and conditions by which the prices are regulated and fixed shall also be exhibited in each room on a placard not containing

any other matter, and posted in a position where it is easily legible.

(c) In the case of every other worker, the particulars of the rate of wages applicable to the work to be done by each worker shall be furnished to him in writing at the time when the work is given out to him; provided that if the same particulars are applicable to the work to be done by each of the workers in one room it shall be sufficient to exhibit them in that room on a placard not containing any other matter, and posted in a position where it is easily legible.

(d) Such particulars of the work to be done by each worker as affect the amount of wages payable to him shall (except so far as they are ascertainable by an automatic indicator) be furnished to him in writing at the time when the work is given out to him.

(e) The particulars either as to rate of wages or as to work shall not be expressed by means of symbols.

(f) Where an automatic indicator is used for ascertaining work, the indicator shall have marked on its case the number of teeth in each wheel and the diameter of the driving roller, except that in the case of spinning machines with traversing carriages the number of spindles and the length of the stretch in such machines shall be so marked in substitution for the diameter of the driving roller.

(g) Where such particulars of the work to be done by each worker as affect the amount of wages payable to him are ascertained by an automatic indicator, and a placard containing the particulars as to the rate of wages is exhibited in each room, in pursuance of an agreement between employers and workmen, and in conformity with the requirements of this section, the exhibition thereof shall be a sufficient compliance with this section.

(2) If the occupier fails to comply with the requirements of this section, or fraudulently uses a false indicator for ascertaining the particulars or amount of any work paid for by the piece, or if any workman fraudulently alters an automatic indicator, the occupier or workman, as the case may be, shall be liable for each offence to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, and in the case of a second or subsequent con