§ MR. BELL (Derby)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether he is aware that engine-drivers, firemen, and guards of goods and mineral trains on nearly all the railways in the United Kingdom are working hours ranging from 14 to 20 and upwards at stretches, and are frequently compelled to resume duty after such spells with intervals of only three or six hours off duty; and, whether in view of the dangers arising there from to the men, other men employed on the railways, and the public, he will call upon all the railway companies to furnish Returns of the hours worked by men employed in the above-mentioned grades for the months of October and November last, showing the number of men employed in each grade and the number working each number of hours above 10 each day, and the number resuming duty each hour below nine hours interval between shifts.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have no evidence before me that the facts
†See (4) Debates, xcvii, 1120.463 are as stated by the hon. Member. The Board of Trade will give their best attention to any complaints made to them under the Railway Regulation (Hours of Labour) Act, 1893, but I must remind the hon. Member that that Act presupposes a specific representation in each case or class of cases. It would be unreasonable to ask any Railway Company to incur the labour which would be involved in preparing the Return suggested in the question, unless a prima facie case had been established by means of representation under the Act in support of the hon. Member's allegation.