§ MR. FLYNNI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the stone-cutters employed on the building works at Maryborough Prison have been locked out by the contractor for refusal to work more than nine and a-half hours per diem, which is the standard time for the country; can he say whether the fair wage resolution of the House of Commons was considered in the conditions of contract; and what action, if any, the Prisons Board will take in the matter.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURI am informed that there has been no lock-out as stated in the first paragraph, hut that the stonecutters, having demanded a reduction in the working hours, which was refused by the contractor, the men ceased work on the 6th instant. Some of them, however, have since resumed work on the old terms—namely, ten and a-half hours per day for five days of the week and seven and a-quarter hours on Saturday; that is to say, fifty-nine and three-quarter hours in all. I understand that the time referred to as "the standard time for the country" has never been adopted in this district. The resolution referred to in the second paragraph was embodied in the specification in connection with the contract. The General Prisons Board do not, under the circumstances, propose to take any action in the matter.