§ MR. J. RAMSAY MACDONALD (Leicester)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department upon what representations he has made the Draft Order (Factory and Workshops Act, 1901) re-employment between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. for women and young persons in factories in the county of London in which bookbinding is carried on, workrooms in which millinery work and dressmaking is carried on in connection with drapers' retail establishments within the city of Manchester and the borough of Salford, and factories and workshops in which the manufacture of straw hats and bonnets is carried on; whether the workpeople affected by the Order have been consulted; and, further, why the two first sections of the Order are only of local application.
§ MR. GLADSTONEI have issued the draft Order in consequence of a Report submitted by the Chief Inspector of Factories embodying the results of a careful inquiry that had been made into the cases in which the 9 to 9 period of employment is being worked under existing Orders and suggesting for consideration whether it was necessary to keep these Orders alive any longer. The draft Order, which would repeal one of the 978 existing Orders at once and the remainder after a year's grace, has been specially sent to the manufacturers affected and trade associations, including workers' associations, so that any objections to the proposed repeal may be fully stated and considered. The first two paragraphs of the Schedule are only of local application because the existing Orders are so limited.
§ MR. J. RAMSAY MACDONALDWill the right hon. Gentleman give a list of the workers' associations to which the Order has been sent?
§ MR. GLADSTONEYes, Sir.
§ In reply to Mr. BYLES, MR. GLADSTONE added that it would be open to the workers to make any representations they wished.