§ MR. WOODS (Essex, Walthamstow)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he will explain fully to the House the object of the Provisional Order issued from the Admiralty on 12th May by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, and addressed to the superintendent of the Chatham Dockyard, which states that the question of periods of absence without pay of the workpeople is to be taken into account in awarding pensions; that a record is to be kept of the number of days in each year that the workpeople are absent (over twelve days per annum); whether it is proposed to take into account the days lost through sickness, accidents, or days when the yards are closed by order; also the overtime worked as counter-balancing the lost days; whether he is aware that this new Order is causing considerable irritation among the workpeople; and if he will state whether the Order is to be pressed.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HANBURY,) PrestonThis subject is still under consideration by the Departments concerned, and I am therefore unable to give the hon. Member a definite reply on the points raised in his question.