§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSE (Wilts, Devizes)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been drawn to the frequent complaints made against Mrs. Susan Fox, a dressmaker, of Brook Street, Hanover Square, by her apprentices, accounts of which have been reported in the police news of the papers; whether he is aware that Agues Lucas, an apprentice of Mrs. Fox, was, on 7th April instant, thrust violently out of the workroom by the porter of the establishment and Mrs. Fox, on account of inability to perform a certain quantity of work in three minutes; that Mrs. Fox then assaulted Agnes Lucas, injuring her so seriously that the girl was obliged to stay in bed for several days under medical treatment; that, in spite of this, a summons has now been taken out against the girl and her father for neglect of duty; and that, generally, the apprentices are kept at, work for exceedingly long hours, deprived of proper and sufficient food, and sometimes locked in a damp room for long continuous periods; and what course he proposes to take in the matter?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.For some time past I have been aware of the complaints made against Mrs. Fox, and as long ago as last September I directed that the Inspectors should give frequent and special attention to her premises. Since then she has been kept under close. 1125 observation and frequently visited by the Factory Inspector, to whom constant complaints have been addressed by the parents of apprentices. From time to time cross-summonses have been heard at the Marlborough Street Police Court between Mrs. Fox and the parents of her apprentices on the one hand, for alleged failure on the part of these latter to comply with their indentures, and on the other for alleged acts of ill-treatment. So far as the Factory and Workshop Act is concerned, Mrs. Fox has kept herself, as a rule, within the law in matters affecting her hands. She was, however, prosecuted and convicted at the instance of the Home Office, a short time ago, for working overtime without sending the required notice to the District Inspector. The alleged ill-treatment of apprentices in the house appears, unfortunately, to be of such a kind as not to involve a breach of the Factory and Workshop Acts, or to fall within the jurisdiction of the Inspectors. But every step has been, and will be, taken, so far as the law allows, to prevent and punish its infraction.