§ "(1.) Where it appears to the Secretary of State that a formal investigation of any accident occurring in a factory or workshop and its causes and circumstances is expedient, the Secretary of State may direct that such an investigation be held, and with respect to any such investigation the provisions of Sections 45 and 46 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, shall have effect, except that references to the said Act in the said Section 45 shall be construed as references to the Factory Acts.
§ (2.) This section shall apply to workshops conducted on the system of not employing any child, young person, or woman therein."
§ MR. W. E. M. TOMLINSON (Preston) moved in line 24, after the word "the" to insert "following," his object being to quote the sections of the Coal Mines Regulations Act with regard to the power of directing formal investigation instead of by reference to the Act and chapter.
§ MR. ASQUITHsaid, that this clause, in the form in which it now stood, was an illustration of the modern system of drafting by reference, imposed on the draughtsmen by the exigencies of Parliamentary procedure and the shortness of Parliamentary time. Every party in the State was guilty of the same offence, and they must all bear the blame. Until, therefore, the time of the House was increased, they must go on making these references to legislation. He acknowledged that the system was an inconvenient one as a whole, and, personally, he should be glad to see some Amendment incorporated in the Bill. He trusted that whoever was responsible for the conduct of Parliamentary business in the future would make some attempt to consolidate those Acts, and, as a part of that consolidation it would be desirable to make the change suggested.
§ Amendment withdrawn.
143§ Clause 18.