F actories Act, 1904, No.22 of 1904 See Chapter 5 for an examination of the effect of the Act

on Chinese factories and Chapters 6 and 7 for the response of Chinese factory owners to the Act.

not being of the Chinese or other Asiatic race carried out work in private premises regarded as dwelling places in which the number of people so engaged did not exceed six and were members of the same family.

This clause, therefore, excluded women who took in washing, ironing and dressmaking as their sole means of support or to supplement the family income.

Clauses designed to control and even exclude Chinese from factory ownership and work were contained in Sections 46, 47 and 48. These read:

46. No person of the Chinese or other Asiatic race shall be -

(a) Registered as the owner or occupier of a factory unless he satisfies the Minister that he carried on the business which he proposes to carry on in such factory before the first day of November, One thousand nine hundred and three; or

(b) Employed or engaged by the occupier of a factory in or about the factory, unless the occupier satisfies the inspector that such person was so employed or engaged in a factory on or immediately before the date last aforesaid.

47. Every cabinet-maker and dealer in furniture who sells or offers for sale goods manufactured wholly or partly by Asiatic labour, and whether imported or manufactured in Western Australia, shall stamp such goods, in the prescribed manner, with the words “Asiatic labour”.

48. (3) When any person apparently of the Chinese or other Asiatic race is found in a factory, it shall be deemed that he was employed therein, and it shall lie on the defendant to prove that such person was not employed therein.

Section 46 did not prevent owners or occupiers who had been engaged in the industry before 1 November 1903 from establishing a new business after the Act was brought into operation. Several laundries and new factories began operating after 1 July 1904 but the owners had been in the industry in Western Australia before the specified date. Rather, the Section prevented newly arrived Chinese establishing new businesses. The Act was instrumental in limiting the growth of Chinese furniture factories, laundries and any other factory investment in Western Australia.

Existing Chinese factories were controlled through Sections of the Act

governing hours of work and compulsory registration fees. Section 23 of the Act restricted the working hours of ‘Asiatics’ to those of women and stated that no Chinese or other Asiatic could be employed before eight a.m. or after five p.m., thus limiting production in Chinese factories and reducing

competition. Registration fees, higher for Chinese and ‘other Asiatics’ than white factory owners, were another method of controlling Chinese-owned factories, especially small laundries which were established and run on limited capital. All factories, Asian and non-Asian, which came under the terms of the Act had to be registered. Renewals of registration were requested only on change of occupancy except:

Where the occupier or intended occupier of a factory, or any other person engaged in or about the factory, is a person of the Chinese or other Asiatic race, the registration shall continue in force for one year only, but such registration shall be renewable from time to time. (Section 15)

Initial registration fees ranged between five shillings and two pounds ten shillings, depending on the number of people employed except:

Where the occupier or intending occupier of a factory, or any person employed in or about a factory, is of the Chinese or other Asiatic race, there shall be paid a fee of five pounds, and the registration of every such factory shall be renewed and such fee paid annually. (Section 13)

Indirectly, Sections 27, 30 and 31 - relating to the sanitation of factories - affected Chinese factories as all factories had to be inspected and registration was withheld unless all conditions were met. Conditions included the

cleanliness of the yards, maintenance of suitable drainage systems and the deodorising of ‘privies’. Factory inspectors worked in conjunction with Local Boards of Health to enforce these regulations. They took particular note of conditions in Chinese factories, ordering some owners to make extensive alterations or renovations to premises. Several Chinese factories noted in the

Factory Inspectors reports were unable to continue because of the extensive nature of the alterations needed before the premises could be registered.65

The Factories Act was administered by an appointed Inspector of Factories, who regularly visited all factories in the metropolitan area and occasionally those in rural towns close to Perth. Inspectors relied on Local Boards of Health and Town Councils for reports on factories in more distant areas.66

Market-gardening and, to a lesser extent, retailing were areas in which Chinese were able to operate free of discriminatory restrictions. The Early Closing Act, 1902, for example, designed to limit the hours worked by shop assistants, covered a wide range of retail and wholesale outlets and had no clauses which specifically discriminated against Chinese shops.

Apart from checking that all sections of the Act were complied with, the Inspector reported breaches of Public Health regulations. Regular furniture factory inspections were also carried out by officials of the United Furniture Industrial Union. However, in the case of Chinese factories, inspections were not aimed at protecting the position of Chinese employees but at limiting the activities of Chinese in the furniture and cabinet-making industry.

67_{Under the}

Act all shops, except those exempt from the Act, were to close on ‘One

weekday, One o’clock; on one weekday, Ten o’clock; on the four other week- days, six o’clock’.68

65 _{SA: Acc.400/1.; `Factory Register, 1905'.}

Many Chinese retail shops were exempt from the Early

Closing Act - being fruit and vegetable shops - and their trading hours were not regulated. However, in 1920 the Factory and Shops Act, which contained clauses covering the opening hours of shops, was passed. This Act worked to

66 _{SA: Acc. 1003; File 839/1908 and AA: CRS A1; File 11432/1913.} 67 _{Early Closing Act, 1902, No. 24 of 1902.}