of its causes and circumstances. This section is drawn on practically the same lines as Section 22 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901 (see p. 188), with the substitution of the Board of Trade for a Secretary of State, and the powers of an inspector under the Railway Regulation Acts for the powers of an inspector under the Factory and Workshop Act.

CHAPTER XV

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FACTORY ACT

THE administration of the Factory Act is in the hands of the Secretary of State,' which in practice means the Home Secretary and the Home Office, and a staff of inspectors and certifying surgeons. Certain matters are left to the care of Local Authorities, and as long as they do their duty the central authority need not interfere. The subject will therefore be considered in this order: administration by the central authority, and administration by local authorities. At the end of the chapter there will be found some statistics as to administration.

ADMINISTRATION BY THE CENTRAL AUTHORITY

Appointment and Duties of Inspectors.-Under Section 118, the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Treasury as to numbers and salaries, may appoint such inspectors and such clerks and servants as he thinks necessary for the execution of the Act, and may assign to them their duties and award them their salaries, and may appoint a chief inspector with an office in London, and may regulate the cases and manner in which the inspectors or any of them are to execute and perform the powers and duties of inspectors under the Act, and may remove such inspectors, clerks, and

servants.

For Wales and Monmouthshire preference is to be given to inspectors having a knowledge of the Welsh language.

A person who is the occupier of a factory or workshop, or is directly or indirectly interested therein or in any process

or business carried on therein, or in a patent connected therewith, or is employed in or about a factory or workshop, must not act as an inspector.

Such annual report of the proceedings of the inspectors as the Secretary of State directs is to be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

Powers of Inspectors.-Under Section 119, an inspector, for the purpose of the execution of the Act, has power to do all or any of the following things, namely:

(a) To enter, inspect, and examine at all reasonable times, by day and night, a factory and a workshop, and, every part thereof, when he has reasonable cause to believe that any person is employed therein, and to enter by day any place which he has reasonable cause to believe to be a factory or workshop; and

(b) To take with him in either case a constable into a factory or workshop in which he has reasonable cause to apprehend any serious obstruction in the execution of his duty; and

(c) To require the production of the registers, certificates, notices, and documents kept in pursuance of the Act, and to inspect, examine, and copy the same; and

(d) To make such examination and inquiry as may be necessary to ascertain whether the enactments for the time being in force relating to public health and the enactments of this Act are complied with, so far as respects the factory or workshop and the persons employed therein; and

(e) To enter any school in which he has reasonable cause to believe that children employed in a factory or workshop are for the time being educated; and

(f) To examine, either alone or in the presence of any other person, as he thinks fit, with respect to matters under the Act, every person whom he finds in a factory or workshop, or such a school as aforesaid, or whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be or to have been within the preceding two months employed in a factory or workshop, and to require every such person to be so examined and to sign a declaration of the truth of the matters respecting which he is so examined; and

(g) To exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying the Act into effect.

Again, the occupier of every factory and workshop, his agents and servants, must furnish the means required by an inspector as necessary for an entry, inspection, examination, inquiry, or the exercise of his powers under the Act in relation to that factory or workshop.

Further, if any person wilfully delays an inspector in the exercise of any power under this section, or fails to comply with the requisition of an inspector in pursuance of this section, or to produce any certificate or document which he is required by or in pursuance of the Act to produce, or conceals or prevents, or attempts to conceal or prevent, a woman, young person, or child from appearing before or being examined by an inspector, that person shall be deemed to obstruct an inspector in the execution of his duties under the Act; but no one shall be required under this section to answer any question or to give any evidence tending to criminate himself.

Lastly, where an inspector is obstructed in the execution of his duties, the person obstructing him is liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds; and where an inspector is so obstructed in a factory or workshop, other than a domestic factory or a domestic workshop, the occupier of that factory or workshop is liable to a fine not exceeding five, or where the offence is committed at night twenty, pounds; and where an inspector is so obstructed in a domestic factory or a domestic workshop, the occupier is liable to a fine not exceeding one pound, or where the offence is committed at night five pounds; and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction under this section in relation to a factory within two years from the last conviction for the same offence, a fine not less than one pound shall be imposed for each offence.

Proceedings before Magistrates.-Under Section 120 an inspector, if so authorised in writing under the hand of the Secretary of State, may, although he is not a counsel, or solicitor, or law agent, prosecute, conduct, or defend, before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction or Justice, any information,

complaint, or other proceeding arising under the Act, or in the discharge of his duty as inspector.

Certificate of Appointment.-Under Section 121 every inspector is to be furnished with the prescribed certificate of his appointment, and on applying for admission to a factory or workshop must, if so required, produce the said certificate to the occupier.

Appointment and Duties of Certifying Surgeons.Under Section 122, subject to such Regulations as may be made by the Secretary of State, an inspector may appoint a sufficient number of duly registered medical practitioners to be certifying surgeons for the purposes of the Act, and may revoke any such appointment.

Every appointment and revocation of appointment of a certifying surgeon may be annulled by the Secretary of State upon appeal to him for that purpose.

A surgeon who is the occupier of a factory or workshop, or is directly or indirectly interested therein, or in any process or business carried on therein, or in a patent connected therewith, must not be a certifying surgeon for that factory or workshop.

The Secretary of State may make rules for the guidance of certifying surgeons, and for the particulars to be registered respecting their visits, and for the forms of certificates and other documents to be used by them.

Every certifying surgeon must, if so directed by the Secretary of State, make any special inquiry and re-examine any young person or child.

Every certifying surgeon must in each year make at the prescribed time a report in the prescribed form to the Secretary of State as to the persons inspected during the year and the results of the inspection.

Poor Law Medical Officer as Certifying Surgeon.-Under Section 123, where there is no certifying surgeon for a factory or workshop, the Poor Law medical officer for the district in which the factory or workshop is situate must act for the time being as the certifying surgeon for that factory or workshop.

Fees of Certifying Surgeons.-Under Section 124 the fees