§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether Messrs. Samuda and Company are carrying out a Government contract; whether, in carrying out the work in connection with the contract, they have declined to comply with the ordinary trade conditions of work in force among the engineers and joiners; whether, in consequence, the members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers have struck work; and whether the Admiralty intend to take any action in the matter?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingMessrs. Samuda are building two second-class cruisers, the Sappho and Scylla. I am informed that members of the Society in question have struck for the purpose of enforcing certain demands with respect to work on board the Sappho. I am not in a position to say whether these demands are reasonable or not, for I have no information on the subject.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONWill the noble Lord take means for discovering what the state of matters is.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONNo, Sir; it is no part of my duty to do so.