§ SIR JOHN BENN (Devonport)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, whether in view of the fact that no reply has been sent to the petitions forwarded by the dockyard writers during the last three years he can say when it is anticipated that the Report of the Committee will be published which in March last it was hoped to publish at an early date; and whether seeing that the Navy Estimates for 1905–6 and 1906–7 state that the pay of the writing staff is under revision, the revised scheme of pay will, when promulgated, date from 1st April, 1905.
1531 (Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) The Report of the Committee referred to in the reply to the hon. Member on the 21st March last,† has been considered, and as a result certain improvements in the position of writers employed in the dockyards, etc., were granted and promulgated to the establishments on the 30th July last. Subsequent inquiries into questions affecting the writing staff have been conducted by the same Committee, and their further Report will shortly be presented to the Board and duly considered. In the event of any additional changes being introduced it is not contemplated that they would be given retrospective effect.