§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON (Dundee)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the benefit of the "Strike Clause" is to be allowed to contractors whose work has been delayed by the lock-out in the engineering trade; in what cases, if any, and for what periods has an extension of time been allowed to such contractors; and whether he can give the House any indication of the extent to which the programme of the year has been delayed by the dispute in the engineering trade?
§ MR. MACARTNEY (Antrim, South)No applications for extension of time under the "Strike Clause" have been received by the Admiralty, and cones- 233 quently no action has been taken. With regard to the third paragraph of the question, it would be impossible, within the limits of an answer to a question, to give an adequate reply, but the information will be given in the First Lord's statement, explanatory of the Navy Estimates.