§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether the labourers in the Devonport Dockyard are, or used to be, entered on the terms that they should receive 15s. per week, with a rise of 1s. per week at the end of two years, on the recommendation of their officers, and a second rise of 1s. per week at the end of seven years; whether the Order under which labourers now working in the yards entered has been cancelled; and, if so, when and by whom; and, if not, whether he will see that its terms are properly carried out; whether in the Dockyards other than Portsmouth the labourers are receiving from 18s. to 21s. a-week; and, whether these are the terms of hire upon which the latter entered?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The minimum pay of Dockyard labourers is 15s. a-week; but there is no stipulation as to an increase being given after certain periods. There has been no alteration in the Regulations in regard to the payment of labourers. The amount of pay given to labourers in all the yards is governed by the same Regulations—namely, 15s. to 17s. per week. It is only when employed on certain special duties that any extra pay is given, and 1140 labourers are entered under similar conditions.