§ * SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, whether the House is to understand that the Government do not propose to ask Parliament to amend the Compensation Act during the present session, or to consider legislation to carry out the proposals of the Prime Minister, unanimously adopted by the Lords' Committee on the Early Closing of Shops, in a Report published since the last Session of Parliament, to the effect that towns should be authorised to pass 472 Provisional Orders regulating the closing of shops on account of the existence of hours of work grievously injurious to health, and that such Orders, when approved by Parliament, should acquire the force of law.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAs regards the Compensation Act, I am given to understand a great many important decisions have been given since the long vacation upon the subject, and until it is seen how those decisions work in practice it is not desirable that any amending Act should be introduced by the Government. The matter is being very closely watched, and I can assure the right hon. Gentleman it will not be neglected. As regards the second question, the subject is under the consideration of the Government, but considering the business already before us in the course of the present session I cannot hold out any hope of legislation.