§ MR. EVELYN CECIL (Herts, Hertford)I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he could see his way to give the men employed at Waltham, Enfield, and Woolwich the option of working overtime in order to make up for the loss of pay occasioned by the closing of the factories on Whit Monday and Whit Tuesday.
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. J. POWELL-WILLIAMS,) Birmingham, S.Recourse to overtime is an undesirable expedient, and is resorted to only in cases of urgency. The practice in question has been abandoned since 1894, with a single exception in the Jubilee year, and the Secretary of State does not propose to revert to it.