Miss Irwin, in her evidence before the Committee of the House of Lords upon the early closing of shops, quotes a very similar instance: “In another baker’s shop where six girls were employed, the hours were from 6.45 A.M. to 8 P.M., and to 11.30 on Saturdays. The girls had to provide their own food, and all meals, including breakfast, were made and partaken of on the premises, the girls having the use of the kitchen for this. No regular time was allowed for meals, and they were kept running backwards and forwards to the shop all the time. Very often they were kept beyond the nominal closing hour of 11.15 P.M. and lost the last car home. This was a great hardship to the girls who lived at a distance. My informant said: ‘When I get home, I just sit down and cry with fatigue.’ The firm have a number of branch shops. There are in all twenty-eight girls employed in them.”[26] The nominal maximum hours in restaurants visited by her are given by Miss Irwin as follows:— “In 3 cases 16 hours on one or more days in the week 96 hours. „ 1 „ 15½ „ „ „ 93 „ „ 1 „ 12 to 17 „ „ „ 93 „ „ 1 „ 15 „ „ „ 90 „ „ 2 „ 16 „ „ „ 87 „ „ 1 „ 14½ „ „ „ 87 „ „ 2 „ 13 to 14 „ „ „ 79 „ „ 4 „ 12½ to 15½ „ „ „ 78 „ „ 1 „ 17 „ „ „ 77 „ „ 3 „ 12 to 12½ „ „ „ 72 to 75 „ „ 1 „ 13 „ „ „ 70 „ “These,” adds Miss Irwin, “are the _nominal_ hours, but ... in several cases the information was taken from the women assistants at a later hour than the nominal closing time.”[27]