§ MR. NANNETTITo ask the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the paymaster of the Army Ordnance employees at Island Bridge, Dublin, delayed the workmen 1½ hours for their pay on Saturday, 1st July, 1905; that the men were in no way compensated for the time they lost; and whether, seeing that the paymaster is an officer receiving over £1 a day, and supposed to have superior qualifications, and that the duties of paymaster are usually performed by officers of inferior rank and pay without a hitch, steps will be taken to obviate these delays in future; and whether the officer at fault will be called on to pay the overtime due to the workmen out of his own pocket, as the overtime was in no way due to the public service; and will he say what service has the officer referred to in the Army Ordnance Department.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) Owing to the illness of the officer usually performing the pay duties at Island Bridge, there was some delay in commencing and completing the payment of the employees referred to. Such a delay is quite unusual and was due to exceptional circumstances, and there is no likelihood of a recurrence. The rule is that workmen of the Army Ordnance Department are paid in their own time, and the question of overtime pay does not, therefore, arise.