MR. SHIELEY (Yorkshire, W. R., Doncaster)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he is aware that there are practical difficulties in the way of starting prosecutions under the Act to limit the hours of labour of Children and Young Persons in Shops, 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c. 55), and whether he will consider the advisability of appointing Inspectors to carry out the provisions of the Act according to the intentions of the Legislature; and, whether he will issue instructions to the police to insist that the notice stating the number of hours in the week during which young persons may be lawfully employed in any particular shop shall be "kept exhibited in a conspicuous place" as required by Section 4 of the Act?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.),in reply, said, his attention had not been called to the difficulty of starting prosecutions. He was not prepared to appoint Inspectors, or issue instructions to the police to insist that the notice stating the number of hours during which young persons might be lawfully employed should be kept conspicuously exhibited. According to such information as he could get, it was the intention both of the Select Committee and of the Legislature that the efficacy of the Act should depend, not upon any interference on the part of 68 the Government, and still less upon direct Government inspections, but rather upon the action of individuals, or associations, interested in the subject.