§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that for 20 years prior to June, 1888, similar hours of working had prevailed for the workmen employed in the Works Department and in the Chief Constructor's Department of the Royal Dockyard, Pembroke; whether the hours of working in the Works Department have, since June, 1888, been materially increased without any increase of pay to the men employed, and whether the work is now far heavier, and the pay far less, for those employed in the Works Department, as compared with those employed in the Constructor's Department; and, whether he can state the reasons for this difference?
§ * THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. FORWOOD,) Lancashire, S.W., OrmskirkMy reply to the first paragraph of the question is, Yes. The change was made so as to place the men in the Works Department at Pembroke on precisely the same conditions, both as to pay and hours, as at the other Dockyards, and they now work the ordinary hours for labour and have many advantages outside men do not enjoy. The class of work performed by the men in the Works Department being quite different to that in the Shipbuilding branch, it is not possible to compare their relative rates of pay.