§ MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the Report of the Inter-departmental Committee in 1901 and the strong expression of opinion by the chief constable of Manchester in 1906, condemnatory of employment of children in street trading, and the fact that in Glasgow and other large cities evidence is forthcoming that street trading leads to grave physical and moral deterioration of boys and girls, he will insert a clause in the Children Bill making it illegal for boys or girls under sixteen to be engaged in street trading on any terms whatsoever, or, as an alternative, a clause raising the age below which street trading is illegal from eleven to fourteen.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) It is not proposed to insert any provision in the Children's Bill on the subject of street trading, for reasons which were explained by me in reply to a Question on the 12th March last by the hon. Member for the Ealing Division of Middlesex. As has already been announced, the Government will propose next session the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the question of street trading by children and young persons.