§ SIR HENRY HALFORDmoved for leave to bring in a Bill to restrain stoppages from the payment of wages in the hosiery manufacture.
MR. HUMEsaid, he had no objection to the introduction of the Bill—to which, he understood, the Government had given its assent—with the understanding, however, that it should be referred to the same Select Committee to which another Bill, introduced by the hon. Member for Walsall (Mr. C. Forster), for the amendment of the Truck Acts, was about to be referred, that so the whole subject might be investigated.
MR. FITZROYsaid, it was intended that the two Bills should go to the same Committee, and the hon. Baronet opposite (Sir H. Halford) had concurred in that arrangement.
§ MR. CRAUFURDsaid, unless the reference to a Select Committee were to take place before the second reading, he should oppose the Bill at this stage.
§ SIR JOSHUA WALMSLEYsaid, he understood that the Bill referred to a particular manufacture and a particular locality. He had had communications with a number of persons connected with this trade, and he could assure the House that all they desired was, that the whole subject should be fully and fairly investigated by a Committee. He was glad to hear, therefore, that the hon. Baronet had acquiesced in the suggestions which had been made by his hon. Friend the Member for Montrose to refer the Bill to a Select Committee.
§ MR. WILKINSONsaid, he would admit that there might be some pressure and some cause of complaint, but he did not think that this could be remedied by legislation, and he would only consent to the introduction of the Bill on the understanding that there should be a very searching inquiry.
MR. FITZROYsaid, his understanding certainly was that the Bill was to be referred to a Select Committee after, and not before, the second reading. He did not think that there could be any necessity for a general inquiry into the question of truck, because that question had been very fully investigated in the year 1842, by a Committee composed of some of the best men in that House. Nothing since then had arisen to render a fresh Committee necessary. What he was directed to inform the hon. Baronet who introduced this Motion was, that the Government were prepared to consent to the introduction of the Bill, with the intention of referring it to the Committee in question. He was not prepared to consent to a Committee on the subject, which might have the effect of throwing the matter over the whole Session.
§ Leave given.
§ Bill ordered to be brought in by Sir Henry Halford, Sir Joshua Walmsley, and Mr. Packe.