HC Deb 15 May 1855 vol 138 cc638-9
MR. HADFIELD

said, he had to move for a Committee of the whole House to consider the laws for securing the property of manufacturers of iron, steel, cutlery, edge tools, hardware, gold, silver and and silver plated, Britannia metal, German silver, copper and brass articles, and other metals, mother of pearl shell, tortoiseshell, bone, horn, ivory, leather, and wood, and also for securing the wages of the workmen engaged in such manufactures. His object was to introduce a Bill to extend the provisions of the 6 & 7 Vict., chap. 40, to the hardware and other manufactures of Sheffield, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton. The exclusion of those three towns from the operation of that Act had been productive of considerable inconvenience, which it was the desire of their inhabitants to have remedied.

MR. BOUVERIE

said, that the provisions of the 6 & 7 Vict.—at present applying to the woollen, linen, worsted, cotton, flax, and silk manufactures of this country—appeared to be of a very beneficial character. They had reference to workmen who embezzled tools and other materials entrusted to them by their employers, and they also provided a very simple and summary process by which the workmen could recover their wages. Primâ facie, therefore, there was no objection to the extension of this Act to the iron and metal manufactures of Sheffield and other towns; but it was desirable that the Bill which the hon. Gentleman proposed to bring in should be circulated in the places to which it would refer, in order to afford them an opportunity of expressing their opinions upon it.

Motion agreed to; House in Committee.

Resolved— That the Chairman be directed to move the House, that leave be given to bring in a Bill the better to secure the property of Manufacturers of iron, steel, cutlery, edge tools, hardware, gold, silver and silver plated, Britannia metal, German silver, copper and brass articles, and other metals, mother of pearl, shell, tortoise shell, bone, horn, ivory, leather, and wood, and also for securing the Wages of the Workmen engaged in such manufactures, by extending the provisions of the Act of the sixth and seventh years of Her present Majesty, chapter forty, commonly called 'The Woollen, &c. Manufactures Act,' to the said hardware and other manufactures.

The House resumed.

Resolution reported.

Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. HADFIELD, Mr. ROEBUCK, Mr. MUNTZ, and Mr. SCHOLEFIELD.

Bill read 1°.