§ MR. GALLOWAYOn behalf of the hon. Member for Peckham, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will postpone the Committee stage of the Shop Hours Bill until the opinion of the small shopkeepers on the Bill can be ascertained.
§ *MR. AKERS-DOUGLASI do net think that there is sufficient reason for taking this course. The whole matter— and indeed proposals very similar to those in the Bill—has engaged public attention for a long time now, and the small shopkeepers have had full opportunity of expressing their views. In particular, the Select Committee of the House of Lords in 1901 took evidence on this point and reported that the small shopkeepers were not less anxious than other classes of shopkeepers for legislation that would enable them to shorten their hours of labour.