§ MR. O'GRADYI beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether he is aware that the contractor for 1186 cleaning windows of the several Government offices, and drawing £100 per month besides his weekly wage for this work, is employing forty men and paying them 6½d. per hour, while the trade union rate for window cleaning is 7d. per hour; and, if so, what steps he intends taking in the matter.
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. HARCOURT,) Lancashire, RossendaleI do not understand the first part of the hon. Member's Question. Our arrangement with the contractor is to pay him for the work by measurement of the area of glass cleaned. There is no question of a weekly wage to him. I am informed that thirty-eight of the men employed are receiving 7d. per hour or over; nineteen are on the lower scale, but of these eighteen are youths or learners who are not yet fully skilled, and one is an old man who is kept on for charitable and kindly reasons.