Page:The Agricultural Children Act, 1873, and the Agricultural Gangs Act, 1867.djvu/9



The session of 1873 marks a new era in that department of legislation which has reference to the industrial operations of the country. Numerous as have been the enactments popularly known as the "Factory Acts," they have hitherto been limited to places which, with more or less propriety, are called "factories" or "workshops," or, at any rate, are places within walls, &c., and comparatively under cover.

Now, however, the range of this kind of legislation has been considerably extended, and the statute 36 & 37 Vict. c. 67, the short title of which is the "Agricultural Children Act, 1873," supplements the "Agricultural Gangs Act, 1867," and brings under full statutory control children employed "in the execution of various kinds of agricultural work." The Act, and the kindred one named above, may be considered as resulting jointly from the increased attention given of late years to questions of public health and morality on the one hand, and to education on the other. Indeed, the preamble of the Act of 1873 explicitly states that the Act has been passed "with a view to the better education" of children engaged in agricultural pursuits.

This is not the place, nor is A. D. 1873 the time, to discuss the questions of political economy which naturally crop up in connection with State interference with trade usages and trade contracts between man and man. The experience of centuries, and especially of the present century (and that abroad as well as at home), has, however, amply demonstrated the fact that it is for the good of the community at large that employers and employed should be to a greater or less