CHIMNEY SWEEPERS ACTS (REPEAL) BILL. (Hansard, 13 July 1938)

§ LORD ELTISLEY

My Lords, this Bill which I venture to bring forward for the consideration of the House has passed through all its stages under the ten-minute rule in another place. Few Bills are in fact accepted in that place under this rule, and I suggest that the circumstance that it has passed in this manner means that the House as a whole has fully appreciated the merits of this small measure. The Bill, it will be observed, is a one-clause Bill. It is very simple and has the exceptional merit that instead of adding to the Statute Book it will do the reverse and remove several pages from that great tome. The purpose of the Bill can perhaps be most adequately and concisely described by pointing out that it deals with an old-time abuse and an obsolete practice. We now have Factory Acts and Employment of Young Persons and Children Acts, all of which deal effectively with the employment of young persons and children, but I venture to think that the greatest safeguard of all is that there is no longer any desire to employ them in this old-time practice of cleaning chimneys, nor is any advantage to be gained by so employing them. That method of cleaning chimneys is now obsolete.

821 There is one other point to which I would venture to draw the attention of the House, and that is that under the Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875 no one may legally act as a chimney sweeper without first obtaining an annual certificate from the police, for which he is called upon to pay a small fee of 2s. 6d. Put briefly, the purpose of this certificate is to facilitate the enforcement of the earlier Acts, but, as I have just mentioned, these earlier Acts have now become obsolete so that there is no good reason why a man who carries out the skilled, laborious and highly necessary work of sweeping chimneys should have to take out a licence, any more than the man who cleans windows or drains or carries out other services necessary to our existing system of living. In these days, as well as being unnecessary that a man should be called upon to take out a licence, it is surely derogatory to the members of the chimney sweeping profession' to have to be licensed in this up-to-date way.

If anything, if I may say so, sweeping chimneys and obtaining soot is an exceedingly valuable service. Soot, as we all know, particularly soot from domestic chimneys, produces a very useful fertiliser for agriculture. It is rich in nitrogen, it is a useful insecticide, and it warms the soil very considerably. Soot, indeed, is a very useful asset to the market gardener. I do not wish to weary your Lordships with details of the Acts which I am suggesting should be repealed. I will only add that the Bill has received the approval of another place, and that I believe it is approved by His Majesty's Government. Therefore I express the sincere hope that it will also receive the universal approval of your Lordships. I beg to move.