§ Order of the Day read for receiving Report of Amendment.
THE EARL OF LYTTONappealed to the noble Earl in charge of the Bill to postpone its consideration until tomorrow. There were, he said, several noble Lords who wore interested in the Bill and would like to discuss it, and it would be quite impossible to have an adequate discussion that evening.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPsaid he was, of course, in the hands of their Lordships. But he would point out that in deference to the wish of the noble Earl himself he had put off the Report Stage for more than a week in order that he might put down some Amendments to Clause 5. He regretted, however, to find that no Amendment to that clause had been put down by the noble Earl. The noble Earl had, however, placed on the Paper an Amendment to Clause 6, which the Government were ready to accept, as well as, with the exception of one small one, the Amendments standing on the Paper in the name of Lord Balfour of Burleigh.
LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGHsuggested that as all the Amendments on the Paper were to be accepted by the Government except one, which he would not press, the present stage might be proceeded with, and noble Lords who desired to say anything on the Bill could do so on the Third Reading.
THE EARL OF LYTTONsaid he was willing to reserve his remarks till the Third Reading stage if it was understood that there would then be an opportunity for discussion.
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURYasked for an explanation as to the effect of an Amendment which was carried in Committee to Clause 5. The words as they originally stood were—
Where in any premises forming part of an institution carried on for charitable, reformatory, or religious purposes—.The words "or religious" were deleted in Committee, and he wished to know whether that change excluded from supervision or from inspection any laundry which, had those words remained, would have been supervised or inspected.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPsaid that convents would be excluded from the operation of the Bill if there were no other inmates than the nuns themselves, no matter whether they did industrial work or not. If they had any inmates at all for reformatory purposes, they would be subject to inspection when regular industrial work was performed.
THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURYasked what would happen if industrial work were performed by hired women who came from outside.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPsaid the Bill would still apply to them. With the inspection of convents in order to prevent abuses alleged to exist in the case of Roman Catholics and the Church of England this Bill did not profess to deal. It only professed to deal with factories and workshops, and to bring laundries under the usual provisions of the Factories and Workshops Acts. These laundries would be inspected.
§ Amendment reported according to Order.
1390LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGHmoved an Amendment to Clause 5 (application of Factory and Workshop Acts to certain institutions) altering the subsection providing that the principal Act might be applied in a modified form to institutions in which the only persons working were inmates of and supported by the institution, or persons, not exceeding two in number, engaged in the general supervision of the work or management of machinery. His proposal was to omit the words "not exceeding two in number." He hoped that better drafting would be adopted when the clause went to another place.
§
Amendment moved—
In Clause 5, page 3, lines 31 and 32, to leave out the words ' not exceeding two in number.' "—(Lord Balfour of Burleigh).
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPaccepted the Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
In Clause 5, page 3, line 32, to leave out the word 'general.' "—(Lord Balfour of Burleigh.)
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPaccepted the Amendment.
§ Drafting Amendment agreed to.
THE EARL OF LYTTONmoved an Amendment to Clause 6 (inspection of certain premises) to give the Home Office the initiative in the matter of the inspection of laundries or industrial work connected with institutions which were already under the inspection and authority of a Government Department.
§
Amendment moved—
In Clause 6, page 5, line 8, to leave out from the word ' apprenticeship' to the word 'and' in line 12, and to insert the words ' the Secretary of State may arrange with the Department that the premises shall, as respects the matters dealt with by the principal Act, be inspected by an inspector appointed under that Act.',"—(The Earl of Lytton.)
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPsaid the Government offered no opposition to the Amendment.
§ Bill to be read 3a to morrow.