§ MR. NANNETTI (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware of the system which is in operation in the weaving sheds in Burnley which allows the employers to deduct from the operatives' wages one halfpenny per loom for the purpose of having the machinery oiled, and whether steps will be taken to have the practice abolished.
*MR. RITCHIEI have made inquiries and find that the practice described 599 in the question exists and is alleged to give rise to abuses. In any other industry the factory inspectors would be able to deal with such abuses under the Truck Act, 1896, but operatives engaged in cotton weaving were at their own request excluded from the operation of that Act, and the Factory Department is, therefore, powerless to intervene.