§ SIR THOMAS DEWAR (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can state the number of persons employed in sugar refineries in the East End of London for 1872, 1882, 1892 and 1902.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) I am unable to supply the hon. 231 Member with the figures he desires for the years mentioned. The nearest information in my possession is as follows:—The Return of Persons Employed in 1901 (now in course of preparation), shows 1,969 persons employed in sugar refineries in the East of London and the adjoining part of Essex; and the Return for 1895 shows 1,552 persons employed for the same area; in both years the number employed in the East of London forming only a small part of the total. A Return for 1889–90 shows no persons employed in the East of London and 1,758 employed in the adjoining part of Essex; and a Return for 1870–1871 shows 1,332 persons employed in Essex and Middlesex together. In the last mentioned years, however, the statutory definition of factory was different from the present definition in the Factory Act, and the figures do not admit of comparison.