HC Deb 11 August 1904 vol 140 c218
MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his attention has been called to a statement in the report of the principal lady inspector of factories (p. 237 of Annual Report for 1903) in which the magistrate is said to have described the case of a defendant charged with employing dressmakers for twenty-four consecutive hours, with under two hours' break for meals, as the very worst case he had ever had before him, and to have stated that he had never heard anything like it since the Factory Act had been in operation; and, if so, will he say what penalty was inflicted for this offence, and whether any security has been taken against the possibility of its recurrence.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) I am aware of the case referred to in the Question. The penalties imposed by the magistrate amounted to £17 and the costs to £1 12s.—eight informations being laid by the inspector. There is no power under the Act to take security from the occupier against a repetition of the offence, but the workshop will be kept under observation, and I hope that the censure of the magistrate, together with the heavy penalty imposed, will act as a deterrent.