§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether two sets of special rules are in force at present in the Potteries; whether, since the alternative rules, as fixed by arbitration, came into operation, any employer has made use of powers, under Section 10 of the Factory and Workshops Act of 1891, to pass from the more stringent rules, as originally promulgated by the Home Office, to laxer rules, fixed by arbitration; and, if so, in how many cases has this occurred; and whether, as regards dangerous trades in general, special 1429 rules issued for a trade have been altered under the same section at the request of individual employers in so far as they apply to their factories; and, if so, in what cases this has occurred?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. WHITE RIDLEY,) Lancs., BlackpoolThe answer to the first question is in the affirmative. As regards the second question, I find out that out of over 400 firms manufacturing earthenware and china which were under what are termed in the Question the more stringent rules seven have applied under Section 10 of the Act to be allowed to come under the rules as fixed by arbitration, and they have been allowed to do so. With respect to other trades certified as dangerous, it appears that in two out of the very numerous works affected advantage has been taken of the same section. These two were an india-rubber factory and an electric accumulator works.