§ MR. CROOKS (Woolwich)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Government has considered the length of the hours of employment of shop assistants, and will introduce legislation reducing those hours to a limit permitted to factories Land workshops.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI fear there is no doubt that unduly long hours are worked by the assistants in many shops. But as the hon. Member is no doubt aware, the hours of adult male labour are not regulated in factories and workshops, and to reduce the hours of all shop assistants to the limits now fixed for women and young persons in factories and workshops (a maximum of sixty-eight hours per week, including meal-times) would be a very strong measure and might result in considerable public inconvenience. The hours for the employment of young persons (i.e., those under eighteen) in shops are already limited, by the Acts of 1892 and 1895, to seventy-four per week (including meal times). Indirectly, too, shop assistants may be expected to derive some benefit from closing orders made under the Shop Hours Act, 1905. I fear I cannot make any statement as to legislation at the present time.