§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can give the House any information as to the working of the compensation scheme instituted by the master potters for injuries caused by lead, and alluded to in the arbitration on the Home Office rules; and whether His Majesty's Government have been informed by the Potters' Association of the progress of the scheme and of the extent to which masters and men have co-operated to make its advantages general.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers Douglas.) I am informed that seventy-two firms have joined the Potters' Assurance Association, and that three others are insured on the same lines in other ways. Most of these firms are of importance in the trade, and, as far as my information goes, the scheme appears to be working satisfactorily, with the exception that in eight factories, as I understand, the men have refused to submit to the medical examination which is an essential part of the scheme.