§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether, 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 by the Shipwrights' Union; and, if so, whether he will arrange that the Fair Wages Resolution of the House of Commons shall be carried into effect in the Appledore shipyard.
§ (Answered by Mr. Kearley.) The general lighthouse authorities insert in their contracts a stipulation 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 where the work is done. The Appledore firm, to which a contract was recently given, accepted this condition. I understand that there are no branches of shipwrights' or boilermakers' trade unions in the vicinity of Appledore.