§ Mr. DUFFYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether any complaints have reached him from small shopkeepers in London, and especially from small shopkeepers who carry on a composite business in the immediate neighbourhood of railway and tube stations, regarding the conditions of trading forced on them by the Shops Act; is he aware that small shopkeepers who carry on a general business, including tobacco, are prohibited from selling books, pens, ink, notepaper, postcards, games, etc., on the day set apart for the weekly half-holiday, while on the same clay book-stalls are open to the public for the sale of all these articles; and will he take steps to see that those small traders are not subjected to this handicap any longer?
§ Mr. McKENNAMy right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. As far as can be traced, no complaints of the kind have reached the Home Office. It is possible that complaints have been received from one or two small shopkeepers, but I have no reason for thinking that the exemption of book-stalls on railway platforms from the half-holiday provisions of the Shops Act operates hardly on small shopkeepers in London generally. The question of allowing this exemption was very carefully considered when the Bill was before the House.