§ MR. MACDONALD (Tower Hamlets, Bow)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the piece-work rates paid for Government work by the London Small Arms Company, at How, are less than the rates current for similar work in Government Establishments: and whether the undertaking given by the company in August last, that the prices to which the men and boys engaged in the factory are entitled shall be placed in such a position as to make them accessible to everybody concerned, has been observed?
§ *THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. WOODALL, Hanley) (who replied)said: The processes of manufacture in the factory of the London Small Arms Company differs much in many of their stages from those in the Government factories, and it is scarcely possible to make a reliable comparison as to the rates of wages paid. As far as I can ascertain, the undertaking given in August last has been fairly carried out.
§ MR. WOODALLWhat the Government insisted upon was that the price lists should be placed in such a position as to be accessible to every one in the service of the company, and I find that they are all in a book to which access is allowed. The rates of wages are made out by the foremen, and the money is paid direct to the men without the intervention of a third person.
§ MR. MACDONALDIs there any objection to the prices being posted up in the works so as to preclude the necessity of the men having to apply to see the book?
§ *MR. WOODALLI have no objection to make the proposition, but I am told that the prices are so numerous as to render it a very inconvenient course.