§ Mr. GILLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state the number of prosecutions against proprietors of cotton mills for the present year up to 31st May; the amount of penalties inflicted, and costs; the number of convictions; and how many of the cases were in Oldham?
§ Mr. WEDGWOOD BENN (Lord of the Treasury)The Home Secretary has asked me to apologise to the hon. Gentleman for his absence, and to answer the question. The figures reported to the Home Secretary are as follows:—Eighty prosecutions, seventy-seven convictions; amount of fines, £490; amount of costs, £286 2s. 3d. Sixteen of the cases were in the Oldham district, five being in the borough.
§ Mr. GILLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state how many cotton-spinning mills in Oldham, Bolton, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and Blackburn have installed special apparatus for the taking away of dust generated in the process of 1209 stripping carding engines, and the number of mills in each case in which the installations are complete, and the number only partially so; whether notices have been served on employers to complete the same within a given date; and, if so, what date; and whether similar installations are being insisted on in the Yorkshire cotton mills?
§ Mr. WEDGWOOD BENNMy right hon. Friend is unable to give the precise figures up to date of the mills which have introduced this apparatus; but according to the information obtained by the inspectors on their last visits to the different mills fifty-six out of the 323 mills in the boroughs mentioned have introduced the apparatus completely and thirteen partially. The figures for the separate boroughs are: Oldham, ten completely, four partially; Bolton, twenty-one completely; Rochdale, seven completely, seven partially; Ashton, five completely; Stalybridge, three completely, one partially; Blackburn, ten completely, one partially. Notices have been served on all the mills to provide the apparatus within three months from the date of the notice, but the Home Secretary is informed that there has been some delay in consequence of objections raised by the operatives to certain types of apparatus. A joint committee of operatives and employers has been sitting to settle this question. Similar installations are being insisted on in the Yorkshire mills.
§ Lord HUGH CECILMay I ask why nobody is present to represent the Home Office? Why is neither the Home Secretary nor the Under-Secretary present to answer questions?
§ Mr. GILLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state how many cotton-spinning mills in Oldham, Bolton, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge, and Blackburn are fitted with automtic locking motions over the cylinders of carding engines; whether the inspectors are insisting on them being applied in all mills throughout the trade, and if any date has been fixed for their completion; and, if so, what date?
§ Mr. WEDGWOOD BENNAs in the case of the hon. Member's previous question, the Home Secretary cannot give the precise figures, but according to the information obtained at the last visits of the inspectors, 149 out of 323 mills in the boroughs mentioned are now fitted with the card-locking motions. The separate 1210 figures are: Oldham, 76; Bolton, 21; Rochdale, 10; Ashton, 9; Stalybridge, 8; Blackburn, 25. The inspectors are pressing mill owners to fit locking motions in all mills in the trade, and marked progress is being made, but no date has so far been fixed for the completion of the work.