§ MR. ARTHUR HENDERSON (Durham, Barnard Castle)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any official information showing that the number of domestic workshops in the clothing trade used as sleeping apartments is increasing; and, if so, whether he will consider the advisability of using the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Factory Act, 1901, for the purpose of substantially increasing the cubic space required in such places.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI am afraid I have no official information on this subject, nor should I have any power to deal with the matter under Sub section 3 of Section 3 of the Factory Act, as domestic workshops are expressly excluded from the operation of that provision. I may point out, however, that any house or part of a house so overcrowded as to be injurious to the health of the inmates constitutes a nuisance under the Public Health Act, with which the local authority have full power to deal.