HL Deb 29 November 1911 vol 10 cc401-3

[SECOND READING.]

Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.

VISCOUNT ALLENDALE

My Lords, the Bill to which I ask your Lordships to give a Second Reading to-day is really a very simple one. There is a substance, as your Lordships may be aware, called rag flock, a material which is most commonly used for filling mattresses and stuffing upholstery, and so forth. It consists of rags, mainly woollen and other mixed rags, which are torn into pieces by a machine called a laniating machine. The machine tears up all kinds of rags, pieces of carpet, old clothes, and such things, as too often unfortunately get mixed up with the soft material which is utilised for stuffing beds and so on. From inquiries made by the Local Government Board Inspectors it has been ascertained that a large proportion of the rags used in this process are very filthy and dirty, picked up very often from road and other refuse heaps, and they are frequently in a very verminous condition. An Inspector of the Local Government Board, in his report, says that it would be difficult to exaggerate in describing the filthy nature of much of the material employed. Although I have no reason to suppose that, for instance, any of the red benches on which your Lordships are sitting, or the Woolsack on which the learned Earl the Lord Chancellor is sitting, are stuffed with such material as I have described, I am quite sure you will agree with me that to use such material for the purposes named is repugnant to our ideas of decency and cleanliness, even where it is difficult—as of course it is to a large extent—to connect disease with rag flock.

The Bill, as the House will have observed, is practically a one clause Bill, but with its many subsections it looks an alarmingly long clause. The object of the Bill, shortly, is to control the manufacture and use of rag flock in the matter of cleanliness. The Bill provides that— It shall not be lawful for any person to sell or have in his possession for sale flock manufactured from rags or to use for the purpose of making any article of upholstery, cushions, or bedding flock manufactured from rags or to have in his possession flock manufactured from rags intended to be used fur any such purpose, unless the flock conforms to such standard of cleanliness as may be prescribed by regulations to be made by the Local Government Board" and so on. The Board proposes at present to prescribe what is known as a chlorine test, a chemical test which I believe very easily indicates the presence of dirt. As your Lordships will see, the powers that the Bill gives may seem to be somewhat wide. It may be that a little later it may perhaps be found desirable to prescribe a rather more severe test, and the Local Government Board will prescribe whatever test they may be advised by their medical officer is necessary.

The regulations which the Board make are to be laid before Parliament in the usual manner, and to be subject to the Rules Publication Act, 1893, Section 1 of which provides that the regulations must be laid on the Table of both Houses for a certain number of days, and must also be published in the Gazette so as to give notice to the trades affected. The respectable manufacturers, I believe, recognise the unsatisfactory condition of this trade, and are in favour of legislation to control it. As your Lordships will see, certain fines for selling this unclean flock are proposed—£10 for the first offence and £50 for subsequent offences. The greater part of the Bill deals with machinery for making the Bill operative, and defines the persons and local authorities who are to assist in carrying out the provisions. The Bill applies to Scotland and Ireland, and although as at present drafted you will see it is proposed that the Bill shall come into operation on the 1st of January, 1912, it is felt that further time must be given after the Bill is passed to enable manufacturers to instal proper washing plant. If your Lordships agree to give this Bill a Second Reading, as I hope you will, when it reaches Committee an Amendment will be moved to alter the date to the 1st of October, 1912. I may say that the Bill passed through all its stages in the House of Commons without any discussion or any question being raised.

Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Viscount Allendale.)

THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

My Lords, I have not a word to say against the Bill, the Second Reading of which the noble Viscount has just moved, and the one observation which I had to make upon it has been discounted by his concluding remarks. I am very glad to hear from him that in Committee he will propose an alteration of the date on which the Bill will come into operation. It is a drastic Bill. I do not find fault with it on that account, because it certainly seems to me that this is a case where drastic action is called for. But I think it would have been a real hardship to have compelled persons engaged in this industry to conform to the provisions of the Bill from January 1 next. The Bill can only become law in the month of December, and it will obviously be necessary for manufacturers and others to set up new washing plant, new drying stores, and so on, for the completion of the processes required by this Bill. It would therefore have been a great hardship to submit to pains and penalties as from January 1 next any persons who failed to comply with the standard of requirements set up by the Bill, and I am very glad to hear from the noble Viscount that he is ready to postpone the date upon which the Bill will come into operation.

On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Tuesday next.