§ MR. SAMUEL SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the long hours of work required from barmaids in London, averaging in some cases fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen hours per day, and 100 hours per week; and whether he can take steps, by legislation or otherwise, to put a stop to these hours of work.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. RITCHIE, Croydon)This question forms part, and not the least difficult part, of the problem of the hours of shop assistants generally. If the cases indicated by the hon. Member do not come within the Shop Hours Act of 1892, legislation would seem to be necessary in order to deal with them, and I am afraid that I do not see my way to proposing that at present.