§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Chief Inspector of Factories has recently, in more than one case, refused to prosecute under the Truck Acts where the employer has claimed to make deductions from wages on account of fines; and, if so, whether, having regard to the 1 & 2 Will. IV., c. 37, s. 3, and 50 & 51 Vict. c. 46, s. 13, such refusal to prosecute 897 was made with the consent of the Government?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)The Truck Acts, as the hon. Member is aware, are silent on the subject of fines for negligence or misconduct of the workmen; and a clause on the subject proposed by the hon. Member for West Nottingham (Mr. Broadhurst) was not embodied in the Act. My own view, after careful consideration of the point, has been that where the contract for hiring provides for fines and for their deduction from wages, such deduction is not within the Truck Acts, and it is with my consent that the Chief Inspector has refused to prosecute in recent cases. It is, of course, open to anyone to raise the question for judicial decision.