§ MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (Yorkshire, Cleveland)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state in what localities closing orders have been made under the Shop Hours Act, 1904, specifying in each case the class of shops to which the order applies and the hours of closing which have been fixed; and how many proposed orders are now under the consideration of the Home Office.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) Two local authorities, viz., the town councils of Barnsley and Swansea, have made closing orders and submitted them for confirmation. Both the orders apply only to barbers' and hairdressers' shops. Their provisions cannot be finally considered and confirmed until the expiration of the month allowed for the receipt of objections. In thirteen other cases (eleven boroughs and two counties) draft orders at various stages of the procedure under the Act have been submitted for preliminary consideration, and the authorities have been or are being furnished by the Home Office with provisional observations and suggestions. These are the particulars for England and Wales only. In Scotland and Ireland the Act is not administered by my Department.