§ MR. CUNINGHAME GRAHAM (Lanarkshire, N.W.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been directed to the lock-out of 60 miners at Busbyhead Pit, near Crosshouse, for refusing to sign a scale of deductions proposed by the manager; whether the workmen offered to submit the proposed scale to arbitration, as provided in Clause 12 of the Coal Mines Act; whether the manager refused this and all similar proposals; and, whether this is a breach of Section 12 of the Coal Mines Act.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.I have obtained a Report from the Inspector on this matter. I am informed by him that it was the manager, and not the men, who wished to submit the proposed scale to a neutral person mutually chosen, but this the men would not agree to. The owners thereupon drew up a scale of deductions, and intimated to the miners that each man must sign it before being allowed to work. The men refused to sign this agreement, and have not been at work since the 27th ult. I cannot see that there has been any breach of the Act.