Page:Labour in Madras.djvu/198

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172
LABOUR IN MADRAS


to the principle of a sixty-hour week, and to apply that principle effectively.” Mr. Murray on behalf of the employers suggested that "the whole matter be referred back to India with a recommendation that the Government of India should proceed with its enquiries, and such legislation as may be considered advisable, and report progress to the next Conference.” The report of the Special Committee on India is as under : 1. The Committee has had the advantage of access to a good deal of the available information about Indian industrial conditions, by means of the official replies of the Indian Government and the statements of the delegates of the Government, the employers, and the workers. But it is clear that that information covers only a relatively small part of the ground, mainly for the reason that in India conditions do not approximate to anything which is known in the western world. The total number of persons in British India employed in organized industrial undertakings, such as factories, mines, and railways, constitutes an insignificant proportion of the while population. Other industries are still almost universally on a small scale, and the predominant industry of India is agriculture, 2. At the same time it appears that such industries as exist in India, especially textiles, and Government and private railway and engineering shops, are quite well organized. It is true that present Indian conditions are not such as to make easy in the immediate future either large scale factory production or the application of western standards in the restriction of working hours.