§ MR. KEIR HARDIE (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he is aware that on the occasion of a first-class warehouseman, who was in charge of the Admiralty stationery store at the West India Dock Naval Department, being transferred to a foreign station, a labourer with only nine months' service was placed in charge of the store, whilst the claims of men with from three to-seven years' service were overlooked, and whether, seeing that as a consequence a second class store houseman with ten years' service has resigned, he will make inquiry into the claims of the men passed over.
§ * MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERThe hon. Member's Question appears to be based on inaccurate information. The arrangement referred to is a purely temporary one made pending the arrival of a store houseman from a foreign station, and the statement that the labourer placed in charge of the store has only nine months' service is incorrect. The only store-houseman who has recently retired was already considerably beyond the ordinary age for retirement, and was, moreover, in temporary charge of the store at the, date of his ceasing duty.