(No. 341.) SECOND READING. (Hansard, 16 August 1867)

§ THE EARL OF DEVON
, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that its provisions were founded on the Report of a Commission, which reported that there were various employments, not included within the operation of the Factory Acts or any separate Act, with regard to 1595 which legislative interference was imperatively demanded in reference to the length of time during which women, children, and young persons were kept at work, in reference to education, in reference to the want of proper ventilation, and other matters. The Commission also came to the conclusion that no distinction could be drawn between the case of hired labour and the labour of children who were employed by their own parents, and that the labour of the latter class of children equally needed regulation. Their Lordships had only the other day passed the Factory Acts Extension Act, dealing with the larger establishments; but there were a considerable Dumber of minor employments in which women, children, and young persons were engaged, perhaps, in smaller numbers, either in workshops or in their own homes, and with respect to which the Commissioners came to the conclusion, from the evidence adduced before them, that legislative regulation was necessary. It was to meet the case of these minor employments that the present Bill had been framed, and it took up the points which the Commission spoke of as requiring regulation, among which were the hours of labour, education, and ventilation. The measure also gave power to the local authorities for the purpose of securing, under certain penalties, an adherence to the provisions of the Bill. The measure had undergone careful investigation in the other House of Parliament, and considerable Amendments had been made in it. He trusted that their Lordships would give it their assent in order that it might pass as a supplementary measure to the Factory Acts Extension Act, which had already received the sanction of both Houses this Session.

§ THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY
said, that the Bill had undergone very serious alteration, but though far from perfect it contained some very excellent provisions. It affirmed, above all, the great principle on which previous measures had been adopted, and which had conferred the greatest benefits on large masses of our industrial population. There could be no doubt that if they compared the machinery of this Bill with that of the other Bill which was the other day passed by their Lordships they might find it was defective. It did not provide the same system of inspection 1596 as was provided by the Factory Acts Extension Act, but left it necessary to have recourse to the local authorities. The measure might not produce all the good effects which they might all desire; but he felt sure that with patience and care it would enable them to work out great results; and they ought to be thankful to have such a Bill as that, when they considered the interests with which they had to contend, and the mighty influence which those interests exercised in the House of Commons and out of it. He thought they must express their very sincere and hearty thanks to all the employers of labour—both those connected with the great establishments and those connected with the smaller establishments—who had come forward in so manly and generous a way to put themselves under restrictions which they would have strenuously resisted some years ago—restrictions to which they were now ready to submit for the sake of the physical, the moral, and the social benefit of the great mass of the working people. He thought such conduct was highly creditable to those employers, and he hoped it would not be presumption in him to say that he felt deeply indebted to them for the course which they had pursued. But the Amendment which had been introduced only a few nights ago into this Bill in the House of Commons was not just towards those employers of labour. Before the Select Committee there took place a great deal of argumentation as to the hours at which all these industrial occupations should cease, and it was pressed very urgently indeed by all those employers and witnesses that, although there were two Bills dealing with this subject, the hour of concluding labour ought to be identical in each, and that unless this was so it would be utterly impossible to resist the infringement of the law. In the Workshops' Bill it was originally proposed that the hours of labour should terminate at nine o'clock; but after much discussion in the Committee it was determined by common consent that the hours of labour should terminate by the latest at eight o'clock. Suddenly, and without notice, a large proportion of those who had given their assent altered their views, and an Amendment was proposed and carried that the hours of labour should be from six to nine o'clock. This would almost render nugatory the provisions of the Bill. He thought that the Bill ought to be amended so as to be restored to the state in which it came down 1597 from the Select Committee of the other House, and if so there would not be much to complain of. The Act did not come into operation until January, and it would be possible in February at the meeting of Parliament to pass a Bill to amend the present measure, so as to make it agree with the Bill as it came down from the Commons' Committee. He feared that the Bill, as it stood, would cause great dissatisfaction among the class it was intended to benefit.

§ THE EARL OF LICHFIELD
said, he regretted that the Bill had not been brought forward first in their Lordships' House, so that they might have had time to give it due consideration.

§ THE EARL OF DEVON
concurred in the remarks of his noble Friend (the Earl of Shaftesbury), and said, that if his noble Friend brought in a Bill next Session to amend the present measure, he should be happy to give him all the aid in his power.