§ COLONEL HUGHES (Woolwich)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for 12 War if he would explain why crews of War Department vessels at Woolwich Arsenal are compelled to wear uniform marked with the broad arrow, and pay for it a sum of £1 16s. 9d. each, out of their wages, while at Waltham Abbey uniform of the value of £5 each is supplied free to crews of War Department vessels?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. WOODALL,) HanleyMy right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. For purposes of discipline the crews of War Department vessels are required to provide themselves with uniform clothing suitable for seamen. As they have good wages, and this clothing is supplied as cheaply as ordinary sailors' clothes, no hardship arises. The barges carrying gunpowder and explosives constitute a separate and peculiar service. There are only about a dozen men employed, and for the last half-century, and probably for a much longer time, it has been the practice to supply each man yearly with a uniform costing about £2 14s. There is really no analogy between the two cases, and it is not proposed to make any alteration.