§ MR. BAINESsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he has received a Memorial from the Associated Chambers 1601 of Commerce, requesting him to collect and print, for the information of Parliament and the Country, Returns of Factories and Workshops, with the numbers and classes of workmen and children employed, the principal machines, &c., more full and complete than those heretofore made to this House, and to cause them to be printed yearly instead of occasionally as heretofore; whether it is his intention to comply with the request of the memorialists; and, if so, when the first Returns of this kind will be obtained and printed; also, whether he will cause the Return to be furnished in such a form as to admit of being easily compared with the Statistics on the same subject which have on several occasions been furnished to the House?
MR. BRUCE, in reply, said, he had received a memorial from the Associated Chambers of Commerce, asking for the information referred to in the Question of the hon. Member. It was his intention to comply with the request contained in that memorial, and directions had accordingly been given to the Inspectors of Factories to obtain the requisite information.