§ DR. MACNAMARAI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many, if any, cases by-laws proposed by municipal councils for the regulation of the employment of school children out of school hours under the Act of 1903 have already been confirmed by his Department; what the names are of the municipalities for which such by-laws have been sanctioned; in how many additional cases are by-laws now under consideration by the Home Office; and whether he will consider the advisableness of laying, as a Parliamentary Paper for the guidance of local authorities, the Home Office model by-laws, together with a selection of the by-laws already actually sanctioned.
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS, Kent, St. Augustine's)One set of by-laws under the Act has been formally confirmed and is now in force, viz., for the Borough of Warrington. By-laws have also been provisionally approved for Middlesborough, Hull, Burnley, Swindon, and Todmorden, and are awaiting confirmation in accordance with the procedure prescribed by Section 4 of the Act. Draft by-laws have also been submitted by some thirty to forty other places and are now under consideration. As regards the last paragraph of the Question it does not seem to me desirable to take the course suggested. I think that all that is necessary in this 826 direction has been done by the publication in the Press and the circulation to local authorities of the model by-laws. I can assure the hon. Member that there has been no delay whatever on my part.