§ MR. S. WOODS (Lancashire, Ince)I beg to ask the Civil Lord of the Admiralty—(1) whether he is aware that in the Naval Ordnance Department at 1524 Woolwich the present system of checking the workmen's hours and wages is giving rise to much dissatisfaction; (2) whether he is aware that if any workman, by accident or any other cause, loses an afternoon's work he only receives the sum of 1s. 8d. for the morning worked on the same day, which is only equivalent to 4d. per hour, whereas the average for the 48 hours per week is 5d. per hour; and that if a workman loses his morning's employment from circumstances over which he has no control, he only receives for 3 hours and 40 minutes the sum of 10d. instead of 1s. 6d., which means a loss for the half-day's work of 8d.; and (3) whether he will cause an inquiry into this system of checking with a view of giving satisfaction to the workmen employed?
§ THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Mr. EDMUND ROBERTSON, Dundee)I find that the system of checking is correctly described in the second paragraph of the hon. Member's question. I am obliged to him for calling my attention to it, and I have caused the inquiry which he suggests to be set on foot.