§ MR. MUNDELLAasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it is true that the Inspectors of Factories are instructed to disregard Clause 12 (the Educational Clause) of the Factories Act 1874, and that children are being passed daily as full-timers contrary to the Act, without being subjected to any educational test; and, if so, who is responsible for the same?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, that a Minute was presented to the Education Department at the end of June, and the Act would have come into operation at the proper time, as fixed by the Act itself, but the recommendations for the granting of certificates did not 262 appear to have been fully understood. He was happy to say, however, that arrangements were now being made by the Education Department to enable persons to be examined immediately in the great centres of industry, so that no further difficulty need be experienced in putting the Act into operation.