Japan. A new factory law was passed in Japan in 1911, whereby the minimum age of employment in factories is 12 years. The ad- ministrative authorities may sanction the employment of minors between 10 and 12 years of age when the work is not too exacting, at the same time imposing conditions as to such employment. Lads under 15 and females must not be employed for more than 12 hours per day. For a period of 15 years from the date of the enforcement of the law the minister concerned may, however, permit the extension of the working hours, according to the class of work, but not beyond the limit of 14 hours per day. These two categories of workers are not to be employed between 10 P.M. and 4 A.M., except in special circumstances and upon special work to be determined by the com- petent minister. Where the operatives are employed in two or more shifts these restrictions as to night-work will not be enforced during 15 years from the date on which the law enters into force. The law, which was put into force in Sept. 1916, is recognized as a tentative piece of legislation, and its practical effect has been inconsiderable. As a result of the deliberations of the International Labour Con- ference at Washington, in the autumn of 1919, referred to above, the provisions of this measure were to be amended as regards working hours and employment at night.
Minimum Wage. An important development in recent labour legislation outside England has been that for the fixing of statutorily enforceable minimum rates of wages, in certain cases for home-workers only.
. British Overseas Dominions. Minimum- wage legislation began with the New Zealand Act of 1894; primarily the laws had for their pur- pose the settlement of trade disputes involving strikes and lockouts. The legislation enacted in Victoria in 1896 was based upon an en- tirejy different reason ; the Victoria Wages Board law was directed against the evils of sweating, particularly of the home-workers. This type of legislation was followed by the Governments of several of the other Australian states. Up to 1921 seven out of the nine prov- inces of Canada had adopted the principle of the provision of a minimum wage for working women. The laws passed are all of very recent date, the earliest step in this direction being taken in 1917, when Alberta inserted a clause in the Factories Act of that year, establishing a flat-rate minimum wage for all employees covered by the Act, with a lower rate for apprentices. In 1918 the first minimum- wage laws for women only were passed by Manitoba and British Columbia, followed in 1919 by Quebec and Saskatchewan, and in 1920 by Nova Scotia and Ontario. In 1920, also. Alberta amended its law with special reference to women. The two remaining prov- inces, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, have as yet (1921) taken no action in the matter. The application of the law is more or less restricted in all the provinces. In five provinces the minimum- wage laws deal also with hours of labour, while in three the 48-hour week has been fixed for one or more industries under the regulations for the execution of the Acts; British Columbia recognizes this standard in all trades. In all provinces except Alberta special provision is made for handicapped workers. In South Africa a bill was recently introduced for the creation of local joint boards to fix minimum wages in particular trades.
France. The principle of a minimum wage was adopted in France by the enactment of a law in July 1915, which provides for special boards to fix such a wage for women employed in home-work in the clothing industry.
Switzerland. Minimum rates were introduced in the embroidery industry in Switzerland by a decree of the Federal Council of March 1917. In June 1919 the Federal Assembly promulgated an Act for the establishment of: (l) a Federal Labour Department; (2) a Federal Wage Commission; (3) Federal Wage Boards. Subsequent to the passing of the measure a demand was made that it should be submitted to the Referendum, which resulted in a narrow majority for rejecting the measure.
Norway. A law dated Feb. 1918 provided for the establishment of trade boards for certain industries in Norway. The provisions of the Act relative to the fixing of minimum wages applied primarily to outwork in industries engaged in the manufacture of clothing and articles of needlework generally ; the application of the law may be extended to other occupations in which outworkers are employed.
Sweden. A bill has been prepared by the Government in Sweden for the regulation of wages and working conditions of home-workers; the provisions include power to appoint trade boards on the English model for any occupation and district.
Czechoslovakia. A law on home-work, modelled on the Austrian law of Jan. 1919, was passed by the National Assembly of Czecho- slovakia at the end of 1919, and provides for the fixing of minimum wages for home-workers.
Unemployment Insurance. Before the World War, little had been done outside England in the way of the compulsory insurance of the working-classes against unemployment. Schemes have for some time been established in a number of European countries whereby voluntary funds managed by trade unions and other societies, and compulsory or voluntary municipal funds providing unemployment benefit, receive subsidies from
the State, provincial council, or municipality. Unemployment resulting from strikes and lockouts, and also from sickness and accident where the provision exists, is excluded. As a rule, the receipt of benefit is further dependent upon a qualifying term of membership and of local residence. A maximum duration of benefit is invariably fixed, and it is usual to impose a short " waiting time " during which no benefit can be obtained. Subsidized schemes of unemployment benefit are usually worked in conjunction with labour registries.
Switzerland. The earliest experiments of this kind were made in Switzerland, where the municipality of Berne organized a fund in 1873, and other Swiss municipalities also subsequently introduced schemes. Recent developments in Switzerland are that, between Aug. 5 1918 and April 5. 1919, five decrees of an emergency character were issued by the Swiss Federal Council regulating the grant of assistance to unemployed workers. Two of these related to unem- ployment in private industry arising out of war conditions, the third to unemployment among workers employed by the Federal Government, the fourth to unemployment of Swiss subjects return- ing from abroad, while the fifth laid down conditions for the relief of all workers not covered by the preceding measures. These were repealed and revised by a single decree dated Oct. 1919, which is to be regarded as a provisional measure to be replaced ultimately by an Unemployment Insurance law. Assistance is granted both for whole and for partial unemployment, subject to the fulfilment of con- ditions laid down in the decree.
France. In France many trade-union unemployment funds are subsidized by the State, the departments and the communes. The towns were the first to take action (as early as 1896), while the first departments acted in 1903. Under a law of April 1905, a certain credit is earmarked in the French budget for the purpose of public subsidies for unemployment benefit funds. A decree dated Oct. 1919 amended previous decrees relating to State subsidies to municipal and departmental relief funds.
Belgium. Assisted provision against unemployment has been in operation in Belgium since 1901, subsidies being granted from special municipal unemployment funds to trade unions and other organiza- tions paying unemployed benefit. Several of the provincial councils subsidize trade union and communal unemployment funds, and since 1907 the State has made small grants both towards the estab- lishment of funds and in direct relief of unemployed members.
Italy. In Italy assisted unemployment benefit schemes were introduced in a few towns. A decree of April 1916 authorized periodical subsidies to be granted or lent as a war measure to various organizations providing unemployment benefits for their members. A system of compulsory insurance against involuntary unemploy- ment in Italy came into force on Jan. I 1920.
Germany. In Germany a voluntary unemployment fund, with a municipal subsidy, was introduced in Cologne in 1896, and certain other German municipalities also introduced schemes. Immediately after the signing of the Armistice, the German Government issued an order regulating the payment of unemployment donations. Under the order the communal authorities were required to pay out-of-work benefit to residents who were out of employment. Persons receiving out-of-work pay were required to take up work other than their usual employment, and at a distance from their place of abode, but no penalty was incurred in the event of refusal. Various abuses were soon found to exist, and amending orders have been made.
Other European Countries. The " Ghent " system of assisting trade unions which maintain unemployment funds .has been in- troduced in a number of the larger towns in Holland since 1906. In Norway a law offering State subsidies to unemployment benefit funds complying with certain conditions was passed in June 1906 and amended in July 1908, simultaneously with another law estab- lishing labour registries. State assistance to recognized unemploy- ment benefit societies in Denmark was first granted under a law dated A,pril 1907. A law of April 1914 increased the amount of the State subsidy to such societies and made other amendments ; it has been revised in certain particulars by a law dated Jan. 1920. In 1919, a royal decree in Spain was issued under which the State was to grant a subsidy equal to the amount of the subscriptions collected from their members by workmen's mutual unemployment benefit societies and similar institutions which have a separate organization for dealing with unemployment. The new Unemployment In- surance Act of Austria, dated March 1920, supersedes a temporary measure on the same subject. A change in the unemployment relief system had become necessary in order to relieve the State of its heavy financial burden, and because of the steady fall in the number of unemployed. As regards Poland, the official Gazelle of Nov. 1919 announced arrangements in aid of the unemployed pending the pass- ing of a law dealing with this subject. Able-bodied workers of either sex, in trade, comment or transport, who, through no fault of their own, are out of work are entitled to State assistance.
Old Age and Infirmity Insurance. Compulsory insurance of the working-classes against old age and infirmity has existed in some countries for a number of years, e.g. Germany since 1889,
