§ MR. NIELD (Middlesex, Ealing)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the omission to deal with the question of street trading in the Children Bill now before the House is intentional or due to inadvertence; if the former, if he will state his reasons to the House for not legislating upon the subject; and, in the latter case, if he will move Amendments to the Bill in Committee for the protection of children and young female persons in relation to street trading.
§ MR. GLADSTONEAfter the fullest consideration, it was decided not to deal 1755 in the Bill with any of the numerous and often controversial questions which arise in connection with the employment of children. It was undesirable to deal with them piecemeal, and to have dealt with them comprehensively would have involved breaking up the Factory and Mines Acts, and would have altered the Bill's character and imperilled its chances of success. As regards street trading, I may remind the hon. Member that extensive powers of dealing with this form of employment of children are conferred on local authorities by the Employment of Children Act, 1903. These powers, as the Return presented to Parliament last year showed, have been largely exercised; and, according to the representations which reach me, with excellent results.