§ SIR HENRY ROSCOE (Manchester, S.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the supervision of workshops—which under the earlier Acts of Parliament on that subject had been committed to the Corporations or Corporate Boroughs—was by "The Factories and Workshops Act, 1878," taken out of the hands of the Local Authorities and placed under the direction of the Home Secretary and of the Factory Inspectors; and, whether, if this is so, any Report from the Factory Inspector for the Manchester District has been received as to the condition of the "sweating dens" described by The Lancet Commissioner as existing in the above city?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. STUART- WORTLEY)(who replied) said (Sheffield, Hallam)The 756 Factories and Workshops Act, 1878, did not transfer any jurisdiction from the Local Authorities to the Factory Inspectors in respect to any workshops. It transferred from the Factory Inspectors to the Local Authorities the supervision of sanitary provisions in all workshops in which men only work, and in which women work with men or by themselves. A subsequent Act transferred from the Factory Inspectors to the Local Authorities the supervision of the sanitary condition of all retail bakehouses. A special Report has not been made as to the condition of the sweaters in Manchester; but several prosecutions have taken place for the overwork of women and young persons in that city.