§ MR. ELLIOTT LEES (Birkenhead)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether any steps have been taken by Foreign Governments to carry out the recommendations of the Berlin Labour Conference with reference to the age at which children may be employed in labour, since the Report (Commercial, No. 15, 1891) 1732 presented to the House in pursuance of their Address, dated 4th June 1891?
MR. CURZONSince the publication of the Report referred to by the hon. Member, Her Majesty's Government have been informed of the following important changes made by Foreign Governments with regard to the age of employment of children. In France the age of admission to factories has, by the law of November 1892, been fixed at 13; except for those holding the certificate for elementary education, who may be employed as young as 12. In Norway the law of June 1892, which regulates the age of admission to factories, fixes the age for full employment at 14, but permits the employment of children over 12 under certain conditions for not more than six hours a day. The age of employment was fixed at 14 in Illinois by a law of June 1893, and in Connecticut by a law of May 1895. In Portugal a Royal Decree of March 16th, 1893, denned the conditions under which children between 10 and 12, and over 12, might work in certain industries. I may add that changes of the nature of those I have mentioned are, as they are brought to the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government, published from time to time in the Labour Gazette.