§ MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any information showing the number of young persons of sixteen and seventeen years of age employed underground in coal mine in the United Kingdom; and if he could furnish an approximate estimate of the number so employed in 1903 or 1904.
1191 (Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) The number of young persons under sixteen employed below ground in mines under the Coal Mines Act was, in 1903, 45,234; and in 1904, 44,628. I regret that I cannot give the number of persons between sixteen and seventeen so employed, as the returns which owners are required by the Act to make do not distinguish the ages over sixteen.