§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the Home Secretary if he has considered the recommendation of the Retrenchment Committee to appoint no more factory inspectors; and if he will, before accepting the recommendation, consider the importance of maintaining the laws and rules for the sanitation of factories and the protection of workpeople, in view of the intensity of work to-day and the fact that numbers of new people have been brought into factories, also the importance of doing nothing which may lead to an impairment of the physical condition of the factory workers?
Mr. SAMUELVacancies in the male staff are not being filled during the War. Apart from other considerations, it would be practically impossible at the present time to obtain suitable men. There are no vacancies in the staff of lady inspectors, and in view of the extensive employment of women in place of men and the special need for supervising the conditions of such employment, a number of additional temporary lady inspectors have been appointed.