§ MR. LABOUCHEREI beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the invitation for contracts in respect to the cleaners of the Houses of Parliament; whether he will see that the hours of work of the cleaners are not more and the weekly wage is not less than those of the furniture dusters and the carpet layers, and that generally their hours of work and their wage for the year are the same as for the former; and whether he is aware that a foreman and a book keeper in regard to these men are paid for by the Office of Works, and that their sole connection with the contractor is being engaged and paid for by him; and, if so, whether he can state why they should not be engaged and paid by the Office of Works, and the profit of the contractor (whatever it may be) be thus saved?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. PLUNKET, Dublin University)If the hon. Member will move for a copy of the conditions of the new contract for ordinary works and repairs, to take effect next April, he shall have it. Under that contract the hours of the men employed about the Houses of Parliament as cleaners will, in fact, be less than those worked by the men directly employed by the Office of Works. I cannot undertake exactly to equalise the wages earned by men whose duties are different, and who belong to different trades; but, as I have already said, those wages will not be subject to any deduction for the benefit of the contractor. It is true that here, as well as in other public buildings, we employ foremen and timekeepers to look after the proper fulfilment of the contract. But there is no more reason why the cleaners at the Houses of Parliament should be engaged directly by the Office of Works than why workmen and labourers employed in other buildings should be so engaged, and, after very careful consideration, the Government have decided not to adopt a general system of employing our own men.
§ MR. LABOUCHEREWill the right hon. Gentleman explain the difference between a furniture duster and a person who dusts what is not furniture?
§ MR. PLUNKETThat is an abstruse and difficult question, of which I think I ought to have notice.