§ MR. D. A. THOMAS ( Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Registrar for Friendly Societies has been approached by the Board of Management of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Miners' Permanent Provident Society or on its behalf to certify any scheme for contracting out of the Compensation Act of 1897; and, having regard to the objection of the general body of miners in South Wales to accept at present the scheme propounded by the Board of Management, will he take special steps to ascertain the opinion of the workmen; and, in view of the difficulty of estimating the amount of the cost of the Act to the employers, if the Registrar unwittingly certifies any scheme that subsequent experience of the Act proves to be less favourable to the general body of workmen and their dependants than the Act itself, what steps must be taken to have the certificate revoked.
§ MR. HANBURYNo scheme for contracting out has been received from the Monmouthshire and South Wales Miners. On all schemes submitted the Registrar takes effectual steps to ascertain the views of the workmen. Application may at any time be made by workmen that a certificate may be revoked for any of the causes mentioned in the Act.