Page:Labour in Madras.djvu/245

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LABOUR IN MADRAS
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219 agricultural and factory-going people, has practically come to a saturation point, and they cannot go on any more without some fundamental change in their conditions. The point is, assuming that that is correct, do you believe that the giving of a vote to an increasing number of industrial workers, increasing as time goes on, will enable the worker to improve his own condition ? ...... Certainly: Because he will be able to send his own representative into the Provincial Councils, and will practically compel hisr epresentatives to bring in measures which will better his condition. If I may illustrate it. take this Factory Act which is in existence, and was last amended in 1911 ; as I have pointed out during the 40 years this Act has been in existence, since it was first passed in 1881, it has only been amended twice, once in 1890 or thereabouts, and in 1908 after the Commission went its round which came into force in 1911. Now if the labourer going into factories had the vote and if he had his representatives in the Provincial Legislatures, that thing would not have happened. The Act would have been amended much more quickly, and certainly in the year 1918–19 we would not have had the spectacle of a twelve hour day in the big Indian factories. You believe that as a matter of comnion justice the Indian worker really requires the vote in order to protect himself ?......I think so, Yes. You offer two or three alternative suggestions here as to how the electorate might be increased, and I would, like to ask you which of the alternatives you think yourself would be most suitable?......Of course I, myself, would prefer that the franchise should be widened alto