§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Duke of Buckingham.)
596THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, in moving the second reading of this Bill, stated that the Bill had been framed for the purpose of placing agricultural gangs, to which their Lordships' attention had lately been drawn, under some regulation. The measure was intended to compel all gangmasters, after the 1st of January next, to take out a licence, and it also provided that females should not be employed in gangs in which males were employed, nor under a gangmaster. The gangmasters' licences were to be granted by magistrates in Petty Sessions, and a penalty would be imposed on any gangmaster who employed persons without a licence, or who knowingly permitted, any infringement of that licence.
§ Motion agreed to: Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Twelve o'clock, till To-morrow, half-past Ten o'clock.