§ MR. ROBINSON (Brecknock)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the
† See (4) Debates, clxvi., 300.308 Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to a statement of the chief constable of Reading that the introduction of one day's rest in seven for the members of his force, which has involved the engagement of only seventeen additional police, has resulted in the work being far better and more willingly done, and in a diminution of the sickness rate; and whether he would encourage the repetition of this successful experiment, either by securing an increase of the grant for the police or by other means.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GLADSTONE, Leeds, W.)The statement is that seventeen men were added to the Reading Police Force. This would imply that one day's rest in seven requires an increase of more than 20 per cent. in numbers, and that it would in most places involve an expenditure which would be represented by an additional rate of more than a penny in the £. The matter is one to be decided by the ratepayers in the area of each police authority, and if, in order to induce other authorities to follow the example of Reading, it is necessary to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide a new grant, that, I regret to say, is a course which I cannot undertake to adopt.