During Lord Ripon’s time, the first Factories Act was adopted in 1881. Following this act ,a Factory Commission was appointed in 1885.
A committee was appointed in 1875 to inquire into the conditions of factory work in the country. This committee had favored some kind of legal restrictions in the form of factory laws.
The results of these enactments were,
The limitation on the factory working hours.
Children between age of 7-12, were to work for 9 hours/ day. Employment of Children below 7 years was prohibited
Mid-day meal interval, 4 holidays/ month and fencing of machinery in the factory also provided.
This act applicable only to factories using mechanical powers, employing not less than 100 works and working for not more than 4 months in a year limitations:
There was another Factories Act in 1891, and a Royal Commission on Labor was appointed in 1892. This was an answer of the Government to the pathetic conditions of the workers in the factory, wherein, only when a laborer exhausted, new laborer was to take his / her place.