§ MR. MORRELL (Oxfordshire, Henley)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the hours which the drivers and conductors of horse omnibuses in London are obliged to work; whether he is aware that in many cases these amount to more than sixteen hours a day and to an average of eighty-five or ninety hours a week; and whether he will make a Return showing the number of men employed, the average rate of wages by the hour, and the average number of hours of work by the day and by the week.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The information in the possession of the police does not show that the hours are so long as the hon. Member supposes; but full particulars could be obtained only by application to the companies, and I do not think that the publication of a Return is desirable. I am making inquiry into the matter, but, as I stated last week, I have no direct authority to interfere.