§ 41. Mr. LUNNasked the Home Secretary whether he has yet had a reply from the employers whether they accept the Report of the Shuttle-kissing Committee; and, if not, whether he will at once take steps, in view of the long delay involved by the employers in dealing with this question, and in view of the unanimous desire of the workers, as expressed by Resolution, that the practice of shuttle-kissing should be abolished, to issue regulations immediately prohibiting such a practice?
§ Mr. SHORTTA conference was recently held between the factory department and representatives of the Employers' Association, at which the latter stated that while in the absence of any definite evidence they objected to the practice being certified as injurious to health and prohibited by Order, their Association would be prepared to recommend its members to provide hand-threaded shuttles for use wherever practicable, on condition that the operatives on their side furnished an assurance that the shuttles so provided would be used by the workers. A further conference is being arranged at which both sides will be represented, and I hope that it will result in a satisfactory settlement. As regards the latter part of the question, I may point out that, as the Act stands, I have no power to propose a Regulation prohibiting shuttle-kissing, unless I am satisfied that it is injurious to health, and that the representatives of the Home Office and the Local Government Board, who were appointed in 1911 to inquire into this question, reported that in no instance had they found any proof of disease having been transmitted by this practice.