HC Deb 17 December 1906 vol 167 cc982-3
MR. CHIOZZA MONEY (Paddington, N.)

To ask the hon. Member for Mid. Derbyshire, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, if he will consider the advisability of raising the price of the 1s. dinners to 1s. 3d. or 1s. 6d., in order to abolish the system of tipping, and to provide for the payment of waiters during the recess.

(Answered by Sir James Jacoby.) I am unable to entertain an increase in the price of the 1s. dinner now an established institution and the most popular meal served in the House of Commons dining rooms. If the hon. Member's proposals were practical I should prefer charging more for the higher priced meals supplied to Members and their friends. The permanent staff are paid full wages during the Easter and Whitsuntide holidays. As regards the policy of the Kitchen Committee on the practice of "tipping," I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Sutherlandshire's Question in this House on 26th April last.†