§ MR. J. T. BRUNNER (Cheshire, Northwich)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has made inquiries with regard to the number of men working in factories and employed in operations involving continuous work day and night seven days a week: and whether those inquiries are complete; and, if so, whether he will state the general results?
§ MR. ASQUITHI have made the inquiry which I promised to make in May last, viz., as to the number of men employed for an average of 12 hours a day, where the work goes on Sundays as well as on week days. 1,569 are so employed in chemical works, 438 in breweries and distilleries, 5,705 in blast furnaces, iron and steel works, 570 in gas works, 496 in oil works, 1,055 in miscellaneous works, total 9,833; but that that the Chief Inspector states that these figures are defective, partly from the difficulty of ascertaining where men are so employed, and partly from the failure of some manufacturers to give the numbers they employ.
In answer to a further question by MR. BRUNNER,
§ MR. ASQUITHsaid the Home Office had no compulsory powers to compel manufacturers to give particulars.