§ MR. STEADMAN (Tower Hamlets, Stepney)I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether a strike took place at the Woolwich Dockyard Commissariat Department for an increase in wages; and, if so, whether, in order to avoid a repetition of this, he will increase the wages of the workmen employed there.
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE AVAR OFFICE (Mr. J. POWELL-WILLIAMS, Birmingham, S.)A considerable proportion of men temporarily employed in the Supply Reserve Depot at Woolwich stopped work on the morning of the 23rd instant on an announce- 276 ment being made that their overtime work would no longer be necessary. Their services would shortly have had to be dispensed with in any case, as the work is diminishing rapidly in amount. They were unskilled day labourers, receiving 21s. for a week of forty-eight hours, with "time-and-a-quarter" for the first two hours' overtime, and "time-and-a-half" afterwards. There is no difficulty in carrying on the work of the depôt.