§ Mr. Jamespresented the Petition of 800 persons of the Working Classes, inhabitants of the city of Carlisle, praying for the Abolition of Infant Slavery in Factories, and that the subject of the hours of employment of children in those places may be taken under the immediate consideration of the Legislature. They declared themselves satisfied of the necessity of legislative interference—and suggested, that infants, under a certain age, should not be employed at all; and that in all cases the hours of labour in factories should be limited to ten hours per day.
§ Mr. Philip Howardwas aware of the interest which the Factory Bill had created not only at Carlisle, but he might almost say generally throughout England. At the same time that he felt all the difficulty of legislative interference, he took that occasion to observe that many of the manufacturers were anxious to do away with the melancholy system of night work in factories. It was likewise, he had good grounds for believing, the opinion of many, that the labour of children might without detriment to the trade, be restricted to eleven hours, but to the Ten Hours Bill, and to its minute and vexatious regulations nearly every branch of trade appeared to be decidedly opposed.
§ Petition to lie on the Table.