c. 67) provided for the salaries and expenses of the inspectors appointed by councils under by the Shop Hours Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict.

The "employer" had, in case of any contravention alleged, the same power as the "occupier" in the Factory Acts to exempt himself from fines on proof of due diligence and of the fact that some other person is the actual offender.

[3] In London, where the county council appointed men and women inspectors to apply the acts of 1892 to 1899, there were, in 1900, 73,929 premises, and in 1905, 84,269, under inspection.

As regards the act of 1899, in only 1,088 of the 14,844 shops affected in London was there found in 1900 to be failure to provide seats for the women employed in retailing goods.

7. c. 31) gave certain additional optional powers to local authorities, making a "closing order" fixing the hour (not earlier than 7 p.m., or on one day in the week 1 p.m.) at which shops in their area had to stop serving customers.

The consent of two-thirds of the owners of the shops affected was required to make the order, and in practice this proved difficult to obtain.