§ Mr. BENTHAMasked the Home Secretary if steps will be taken by the Home- 1469W Office to relieve shopkeepers in various centres, who at present close under a local order on Wednesday afternoons, from the alternative either of closing on the Wednesday, preceding Christmas or of closing on the Saturday following Christmas Day, either of which would entail loss to the shopkeeper and inconvenience to the public?
§ Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITHThe Secretary of State has no power to grant any exemption from the requirements of the Act and Orders made thereunder. The local authorities, however, have power in their Orders under Section 4 to fix different days for the half-holidays in different periods of the year, and the Secretary of State is advised that it would be open to them in an Order to fix a different day for Christmas week when Christmas Day falls on the ordinary day for the half-holiday, if the majority of the shopkeepers so desired.