§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the work of repairing the Irish lightship has been taken away from Dublin and placed with an English firm at Appledore; that according to the terms of contract the Dublin firm is bound to pay the trade union rate of wages ruling at the port, while the wages at Appledore are below the usual trade rates, and the workmen there are not recognised as tradesmen by the Shipwrights Union; whether he is aware that the Irish Lights Board invited tenders for the repairs of one of their vessels, "The Torch"; that a tender from an Irish firm was forwarded to the Board of Trade, with a recommendation that it be accepted, and that this vessel has been sent to Appledore; and whether he will take steps to have the Fair Wages Resolution of the House of Commons carried into effect, and give local employment to the workmen in Dublin.
(Answered by Mr. Kearley.) It is hardly correct to say that the work of repairing lightships has been taken away from Dublin and placed with a firm at another place. Tenders for the repair of the lightships are invited by the Commissioners of Irish Lights in each case as occasion arises, and those received are always carefully considered on their merits. In the case of the "Torch," 1525 the Commissioners recently recommended the acceptance of a tender from a Dublin firm, but the Board of Trade did not consider that the Commissioners were justified in passing over one received by them from a firm at Appledore, who were in the habit of tendering for and performing this class of work for the Commissioners, and who offered to do the work for a considerably smaller sum and in half the time. A wages clause is inserted in this contract stipulating that competent workmen are to be employed, and that they are to receive such wages as are generally accepted as current for their respective trades in the locality.