HC Deb 29 March 1909 vol 3 cc24-5
Mr. REES

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he was aware that the withdrawal of the exemption order necessary to the carrying on of the florists' trade had exposed florists for the first time to the restrictions of the Factory Act; that women florists were now forbidden to work between 8 and 10 p.m. outside the workshop; and that the result was that for English women would necessarily be substituted foreign men, whereby the employment of aliens and the unemployment of our own people would be augmented; and whether he would on that account reconsider his decision?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Gladstone)

I am considering whether it is possible to meet the views of the florists by some arrangement not open to the objections which were raised to the Order in question.