§ 2. Mr. MORRELLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will say what is the total number of women and girls at present employed in factories and workshops; what is the total number of women inspectors; whether there has been recently any increase in the number of such inspectors; whether 1241 the increase that has been made during the years 1910, 1911, and 1912 in the female inspectorate has been commensurate with the increase in the male inspectorate; and whether he is proposing to make any further increase in the number of women inspectors?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe latest figures at present available are those for 1907, as the tabulation of the returns for 1912 is not yet completed. In 1907 the total number of women and girls employed in factories and workshops was a little over 1,850,000. The authorised number of women inspectors is now twenty, two having been added during the present year. No additions were made in the years 1909 to 1911, but five were added in 1908 and three in 1906, so that in the last seven years the staff has been exactly doubled. During the same period the ordinary male inspecting staff (as distinct from inspectors for special purposes) has been increased from 135 to 182, an addition of forty-seven.