§ SIR JOHN GORST (Cambridge University)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the employment of women in the underground workings of mines in British India is still lawful, and to what extent such employment of women now actually prevails; and what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to put a stop to a practice which was renounced at the Berlin Conference.
MR. GEORGE RUSSELLThe employment of women in underground mines in British India is still lawful, but the numbers of women so employed are not known in this country. The Secretary of State has intimated to the Government of India that he concurs in the opinion of his predecessor, that it was most desirable that the employment of women and girls underground should be prohibited in India, in accordance with the decision of the Berlin Conference.