§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that in the Swansea Valley and other parts of South Wales, where there is a scarcity of houses, the shopkeepers who own cottage property insist upon their tenants patronising their shops as a condition of tenancy; and whether, in view of the provisions of the Truck Act, he will order a prosecution of those guilty of this practice?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI have no information on this subject. Such a practice as is described, however undesirable, would not involve any breach of the Truck Acts which only apply where the relationship of employer and workman exists; and I have no power to interfere in the matter.