MR. GORSTasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is a fact that all the men employed under the Clerk of the Works Department in the Chatham Dockyard were discharged on Friday last; whether the men employed on Government work in this department will in future be hired and employed by Messrs. Foord and Sons of Rochester, instead of by the Government itself; whether a similar arrangement with the same contractors, which subsisted formerly, was discontinued some years ago in consequence of the abuses to which it gave rise; and, why the old system has been again revived?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, there has been no discharge of hired workmen employed on the extension works at Chatham, except those whose services are no longer required, in consequence of the near completion of the works. As Messrs. Foord hold the contract for ordinary repairs, any men required for the execution of works under that contract must necessarily be hired by them; but so long as any men are required on the extension, they will continue to be hired by the Admiralty as at present. The arrangement under which the contractors for ordinary repairs for a time supplied men for the extension was discontinued in 1877, not on account of any abuses, but simply for the purpose of saving to the Government the contractors' profit on a transaction which the Government could equally well manage for itself. That arrangement was due to the representations of 1031 the hon. Member, and he did the public good service in the matter. There is no intention to revive that arrangement.