§ Mr. SNOWDEN (Blackburn)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in consequence of the frequency of cases of excessive fees charged by registry offices to male applicants for situations, and the declarations of the police of their powerlessness to interfere under the existing law in such cases, he will consider the desirability of amending the law relating to employment agencies so that it shall include registries for males, and so as to fix the scale of charges at a registry office, as is done in certain foreign countries.
§ * MR. GLADSTONEI have no information before me at present which would point to the desirability of regulating the charges made at registry offices. At present registry offices are not regulated by the general law at all, though as the hon. Member is perhaps aware, certain powers of control in regard to employment agencies for women have been obtained by London and also by Manchester in private Acts. The question of the regulation of employment agencies is no doubt an important one, and I shall be happy to consider any facts that may be laid before me.