§ MR. WEDGWOOD (Newcastle-under-Lyme)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the statement in the Report from the chaplain of Wormwood Scrubbs Prison that it is absolutely necessary that something should be done to deliver those poor children and lads who get a precarious living by paper-selling in the streets; that there are a number of such persons confined in that prison of whom the vast majority have nothing before them but a vagabond life; and whether he will urge upon local authorities the importance of prohibiting paper-selling in the streets by children and lads.
§ *MR. GLADSTONEI have seenthe statement referred to in the Question Power is given to local authorities by the Employment of Children Act, 1903, to make by-laws prohibiting street-trading by persons under sixteen except subject to such conditions as may be specified in the by-laws; and such by-laws applying to paper-selling as well as other forms of street trading have now been made by a number of local authorities, with, I believe, very beneficial effects.
§ MR. WEDGWOODWill the right hon. Gentleman urge the local authorities to pass these by-laws where they have not done so?
§ *MR. GLADSTONEWe give them every information.