§ MR. F.S. POWELLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is his intention to introduce, during the present Session, a Bill to consolidate the Factory Acts, with a view to the simplification, and in certain cases amendment in substance, of those now complicated Statutes; and, if so, whether the Workshop Acts will be dealt with at the same time?
MR. BRUCE,in reply, said, that undoubtedly it would be a great satisfaction to the manufacturing districts if the Acts were consolidated. His hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield (Mr. Mundella) had given notice of a Bill for an amendment of the Factory Act, and it dealt with the question of the age at which children should be employed, the duration of their employment, and it also proposed to do away with special exemptions. He could not hold out any prospect of bringing in a consolidating measure during the present Session.