§ MR. WOODS (Essex, Walthamstow)I beg to ask the Attorney General if he is aware that under the Coal Mines Act, 1887, an employer or manager can proceed in the police court to recover penalties under that Act, while a checkweigher can only recover wages from the workmen through the dilatory process of the county court; and whether, with a view of making the law more equal, he will take steps to remedy this defect?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL (Sir R. B. FINLAY, Inverness Burghs)Penalties for offences under the Coal Mines Act, 1887, are enforced against workman and employer alike by proceedings before a court of summary jurisdiction. The liability for a checkweigher's wages is merely a debt, and must be recovered in the same way as other debts. The supposed inequality, therefore, does not exist. Any representations as to the remedies of the checkweigher for his wages will be considered, but I can make no promise of legislation on the point.