THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, that before the House adjourned he desired to ask a Question of the noble Earl the President of the Council. It would be recollected that last year the death of a needlewoman employed in a millinery establishment in the West End was caused partly by overwork and partly by the abominable and discreditable condition of the room in which she was employed. On the attention of the Government being called to the case, they promised that the subject of the ventilation of workrooms should be inquired into by a Commission then sitting; but up to the present time, though nearly a year had elapsed, neither their Lordships nor the country had heard anything more of the matter. He begged to ask, therefore, when the Report of the Commissioners would be produced. It was also well known that the large body of persons, who might be classed under the name of tailors, suffered from the same want of proper sanitary regulations, and he hoped that something would be done on their behalf. The waste of life which now occurred was such that, whether they looked to individuals or the community, the subject was of too much importance to be neglected. All he desired was that the Report should be printed and laid on the table as soon as 1835 possible, and he hoped the noble Earl would vise his best efforts to secure this result before Parliament was prorogued.
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, there could be no objection to do what that noble Earl suggested. Having wade inquiry that day respecting the Report of the Commission, he found that it would be presented before the end of the Session.
§ THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURYsaid, the Commissioners had conducted their inquiry with so much zeal and ability that he should be loth to say one word against them. But he thought they had formed a wrong judgment in withholding their Report upon the milliners and dressmakers. They might have presented this Report at the beginning of the Session. but for their wish to combine with it the Report upon the needlewomen and slop-women of the East of London. Now, though there might be a difficulty in drawing a logical distinction between the two classes, there was a real distinction between them which everybody could understand; and if this delay had not take place, Parliament might have legislated to meet a great, and crying evil—an evil which was to be remedied by sanitary rather than by other regulations. He was glad that his noble Friend had called attention to the case of the tailors, because, though it did not come within the scope of inquiry, yet the waste of life among them was such as to make it of the greatest importance to them and their families that the evils which affected them should be redressed; moreover, the sanitary condition of those men and of many more like them was of national importance, not only on account of the waste of life, but the waste of health, which every year threw thousands and tens of thousands upon the poor rates. He felt certain that if the Legislature had wisdom enough to pass good sanitary laws and compel their adoption by a system of Inspectorship, the burden upon the rates of this country would be reduced by, at least, one-third in the course of the next five years.
§ House adjourned at half past Seven o'clock, till To-morrow half past Seven o'clock.