Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/189

 FA CTORY LEGISLA TION FOR WOMEN IN CANADA \ 75

Adjoining Nova Scotia, and prior to 1774 a part of it, is the province of New Brunswick, which we shall next consider.

Here we find conditions similar to those in the peninsula. Lumbering and agriculture claim the largest share of the people's attention, and the manufactures do not furnish any very consid- erable part of the provincial revenue. We find here only 5,318 women workers, and they, as their sisters in Nova Scotia, are dependent upon the leniency of their employers for fair treat- ment. There are no factory laws, only the penal code to pre- vent brutal acts.

Next we pass to Quebec with its 25,916 female operatives, and here we find a very good code of factory laws, with special provisions for women and children ; and we have two women inspectors whose duty lies wholly among the women employes. They have the rather imposing title of "inspectresses of indus- trial establishments."

The following is a summary of the laws, taken up under three heads:' I, inspection provided ; II, hours of labor ; and III, sani- tary regulations.

I. INSPECTION PROVIDED.

This was provided in 1889, and inspectors are appointed by the lieutenant-governor in council. (52 Vict., chap. 30.)

II. HOURS OF LABOR.

1. No girl or woman shall be employed in any manufacturing establishment or workshop for more than ten hours in any one day or for more than sixty hours in any one week, unless it be for the sole purpose of making a shorter working day on Satur- day.

2. One hour shall be allowed each day for meals, if the inspector so direct, but such hour shall not be counted as a part of the working time.

3. The day of ten hours shall not begin before 6 A. M., nor continue after 9 p. m.

" This is the method of treatment adopted by the writer in an article on " Factory Legislation for Women in the United States," American Journal of Sociology, September, 1897.