BILL To secure to the public the right of access to mountains and moorlands. Presented by Mr. Trevelyan, supported by Sir Martin Conway, Mr. Johnston, Colonel Assheton Pownall, Mr. Cecil Wilson, and Sir Alfred Hopkinson. Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 12 May 1927. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; MEMORANDUM. The general object of this Bill is to require all persons who carry on employment agencies or registries to be licensed by the county council or the county borough council, as the case may be. In the City of London the licensing authority is the Common Council, and where before the coming of the Bill the council of a non-county borough (e.g., the Corporation of Guildford) have similar powers to those proposed to be bestowed upon the councils of county boroughs the council of such non-county borough will be the licensing authority. An employment agency is defined so as to include all theatrical, music-hall, and concert agencies, as well as domestic servants agencies and registries. It does not, however, include house or property agencies. Licences are renewable annually, but can at any time be revoked. They may be refused to any person under the age of twenty-one, or to any person who is not in all respects a fit person to hold such a licence, or where the premises are not in all respects suitable for an agency, or where an agency is being improperly conducted. Before granting or renewing a licence the local authority is to give the Chief Constable (or in London the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police or the Commissioner of City Police, as the case may be) an opportunity of being heard. An appeal lies from any revocation of a licence or from any refusal of a licence to a court of quarter sessions. Power is given to the local authority to make and enforce byelaws for the prevention of fraud, extortion and immorality in connection with the carrying on of an employment agency, and (without prejudice to the generality of this power) for regulating the conduct of business in respect of such matters as commission, premium, fees, costs and the employment of women and girls without the country. There are special provisions as respects penalties for breaches of such byelaws. Where no sufficient or proper byelaws are made by the local authority the Secretary of State is empowered to make them. The local authority's officers are to have right of entry for the purpose of supervising the business carried on, and can require the production of certain documents. Such local enactments for similar purposes as are now in force (e.g., Part IX. of the Guildford Corporation Act, 1926) are to cease to have effect. In Scotland the licensing authority is to be the council of the county, except in burghs with a population exceeding five thousand. The appeal in the case of a refusal to issue a licence or of the revocation of a licence is to the sheriff. The Bill does not extend to Northern Ireland. 3. Application for licences. 4. Grant and renewal of licences, &c. 5. Duration of agency licence. 6. Resignation of agency licence. 7. Revocation of agency licence. 8. Notice of objection to renewal, or of proposal to revoke, &c. 9. Statement of reasons for revocation or for refusal to grant or renew, &c. 10. Appeals, &c. 11. Register. 12. Byelaws. 13. Enforcement and inspection, &c. 14. Penalty for false statement or forgery of document, 15. 16. &c. Local authorities and expenses. Construction of references to enactments. 17. Application to Scotland. 18. Application of 52 and 53 Vict. c. 63, s. 37. 19. Repeal of local enactments, &c. |