§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will direct his Majesty's Inspector to take a case under the Truck Acts in order to raise the question of deductions from wages for supply of light in the iron plate trade.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) If the right hon. Baronet is referring to the case at Stourbridge, I may say that I am informed that, when the factory was last visited, no deductions were being made contrary to the provisions of the Truck Act. Deductions from wages for the supply of light are not, I am advised, illegal, provided that the conditions laid down in the Truck Act, 1896, are complied with. But if a case is found in which they are imposed otherwise than in accordance with those conditions, it shall certainly be considered with a view to prosecution.