The Indian Factory Commission has sent in its report to
Government, and recommends fewer changes than Lancashire operatives had hoped. They propose to stop labour on Sundays, but for women and children only, and consider thirty-six hours a week a fair stint for children under fourteen. They refuse to shorten the day of eleven hours for women, the women themselves resisting any change, and see no reason for inter- fering with the time any adult male may choose to work. The Commission has inquired most carefully, but it was pretty sure from its composition to entertain a bias in favour of "industry," and we think the Government of India might go a step or two beyond this report. We cannot see any reason of any sort against a Sunday holiday for both sexes, who ought to have one day a week at home ; and we doubt the freedom of the women in making their protest. Let a man work twenty- four hours if he likes, for he can combine against over-fatigue; but for Indian women eleven hours is a long time, particularly if, as in England, they stand at their labour.
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