HC Deb 22 July 1898 vol 62 c834
MR. MADDISON (Sheffield, Brightside)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he considers the prosecution of the Coalminers' Co-operative Brotherhood, Limited, by Mr. A. H. Stokes, one of Her Majesty's inspectors of mines, for contravention of the Truck Acts, for which two convictions were obtained at the Swadlincote Petty Sessions on 24th May, 1898, was sanctioned by the Home Office, having regard to the memorandum relating to the Truck Acts issued on 31st December, 1896, for the use of mines and factories inspectors, wherein it is stated that it is not intended that the inspectors shall intervene in cases where it is quite clear that the workpeople are not in any way subject to compulsion and where they are receiving full value for their money; whether he is aware that the members of the Coal-owners' Co-operative Brotherhood, Limited, agree by their rules to the method of payment declared to be a contravention of the Truck Acts and do get full value for their money, the men being partners in the industry; and whether he will take the necessary steps to prevent any further interference with the business of this co-operative society?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT

The prosecution in question was sanctioned by the Home Office. It was a clear case of violation of the Truck Acts, which could not be passed over, if the men who were paid by store tickets were workmen in receipt of wages. Whether they were workmen receiving wages or partners sharing in profits was a legal question fully argued before the magistrates, who decided that they were workmen receiving wages, and that the payment by store tickets was illegal. If the Co-operative Brotherhood wish to have this question carried to the High Court, I am ready to give facilities for this purpose; but, while the law stands as it does, under the magistrates' decision, I cannot allow a practice to continue which is contrary to the law, and open to serious abuse, and which, so far as I can see, is in no way essential to the carrying on of the mine by a co-operative society.