§ MR. CREMER (Shoreditch, Haggerston)I beg to ask the Attorney General whether, in the absence of any written agreement, an employer has any legal right to deduct from his workpeople the rent of the houses in which they live; and whether such deduction is not a violation of the Truck Acts?
* SIR R. WEBSTERThere is no violation of the Truck Acts in deducting the rent of premises occupied by workpeople if they are the property of the master, whether the agreement is in writing or otherwise. By Clause 23 of the Act of 1831, and Clause 5 of the Act of 1887, the rent of such premises is expressly reserved from the operation of the Truck Acts.