FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACTS AMENDMENT. (Hansard, 28 March 1901)

§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. RITCHIE,) Croydon

I beg leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Factory and Workshop Acts. This Bill is drawn mainly on the lines of that of last year, 91 but the fact that there are some new provisions, while several of the former proposals are omitted, will, I think, secure approval and prevent a good deal of misapprehension on the part of hon. Members on both sides of the House. I consider that some of the former proposals are not of such a character as to make it desirable that I should reintroduce them. I will merely state for the convenience of the House what those provisions are. I propose to omit what was called the two-shift clause and the clause with reference to overtime in certain trades. There was also a clause repealing certain schedules as to overtime which were unsatisfactory in their working, and substituting the order of the Secretary of State for the schedules. I do not think it will at all damage the Bill if this proposal is left out. In regard to the important question of dangerous trades, the House knows that the present law may entail many arbitrations as regards the special rules proposed by the Secretary of State. That was proposed to be remedied by the Bill of my predecessor last year, who proposed that the regulations should be referred to a referee, and that the referee should come to a decision which would be binding on the Secretary of State. I am bound to say that I think there are strong objections to this principle of arbitration altogether. The effect of arbitration is really to place in the hands of an outsider the absolute power of rejecting, or otherwise, a proposal made by the Secretary of State. It is taking the responsibility off the shoulders of the Minister and placing it on the shoulders of an irresponsible outsider. For my own part, I do not think that is a satisfactory position either for one side or the other. I think the responsibility on such an important matter should rest upon the shoulders of the Secretary of State. I propose, therefore, in the new Bill that the Secretary of State should be responsible for making the rules for dangerous trades, subject to two conditions—first, that he should be bound to make the fullest inquiries and receive evidence in public, and, secondly, that the rules should lie on the Table of both Houses of Parliament for six weeks before they take effect. There is another important modification. The present state of the law 92 relating to laundries is unsatisfactory and confused. One of the proposals in last year's Bill was that the Secretary of State might by order apply the provisions of the Factory Acts to laundries. I propose now to deal with the matter by legislative action instead of by the action of the Secretary of State. I propose to apply the provisions of the Factory Acts to laundries, preserving, however, the existing latitude as to the daily distribution of hours of employment so long-as the statutory weekly total is not exceeded. It was proposed in last year's Bill to continue the exception in favour of any institution conducted in good faith for religious and charitable purposes. That exception, in my view, is indefensible. The laundries conducted by these institutions ought not to be worked on conditions other than those imposed on ordinary laundries with which they may be competing. If they are not so worked they have nothing to fear from the application of the Acts to them, but I propose to insert special provisions to meet the objections which have been expressed against the inspection of religious institutions by ordinary factory inspectors. In conclusion I may say that important powers as to sanitary matters are given to the local authorities, and there are other small amendments of the law with which I will not now trouble the House. I hope I have said sufficient to show what tin-main alterations in the Bill are, and I trust they may prove satisfactory to the House.

§ MR. ASQUITH (Fifeshire, E.)

I have no doubt the right hon. Gentleman could quote precedents in support of the course he has taken, but had it been otherwise I should have been disposed to protest against the introduction of so important a Bill under the provisions of what is called the ten minutes rule. I rise, in the first instance, for the purpose of expressing the satisfaction which I feel in common, I am sure, with a very large number of Members on both sides of the House, at the resolution which the hon. Gentleman has come to to omit some of the most objectionable provisions in the measure of last year. I am very glad that the right hon. Gentleman has deferred to the representations which 93 were made from all quarters, particularly with regard to the double shift clause, and I may express especial satisfaction that the Government are going to deal in a comprehensive and, as I think, thoroughly logical fashion with the difficulty which has hitherto arisen respecting the power of arbitration. I have over and over again expressed the opinion that those provisions were obsolete and unworkable, and that the only satisfactory way of dealing with them was to throw the responsibility on the Secretary of State, subject to Parliamentary supervision and control. I am very glad that the right hon. Gentleman has incorporated that provision in his Bill. Of course, as regards laundries one must reserve final judgment until one sees the provisions of the Bill. But there again I may say that it is with great satisfaction I find the right hon. Gentleman has been converted to the proposal I made in 1895 to bring laundries under the general operation of the Factory Acts, and which I was unable at that time to carry through from causes I shall not at the moment specify. I think the light hon. Gentleman's proposal is a substantial modification in the right direction of the existing law. Upon other points it is not possible at this stage to express an opinion, but I would suggest that in the interval, which I presume will be a reasonably long one, between now and when we shall be called upon to discuss the Second Reading, as this is a matter which affects a great many interests in this country, the right hon. Gentleman should circulate with the Bill a memorandum or explanatory statement, comparing the measure not only with the provisions of last year's Bill, but also with the existing state of the law.