§ MR. O'GRADY (Leeds, E.)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to cases of contracts for furniture for his Department in which the fair wages clause has been evaded; whether he will see that the clause named will be rigidly enforced in future; and whether he will consider the advisability of publishing the names or title of the contracting firms before the contracts are finally signed.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) Any cases to which attention has been called have been fully investigated, and I can assure my hon. friend that the War Department will spare no endeavour to secure compliance with the wages clause, as with other terms of the contract. As regards the last part of the Question. 891 I do not think it would be advisable to publish the names of the firms before the contracts are finally signed. A means of meeting the difficulty to which the Question points was discussed and approved in principle at the recent conference at the Admiralty, and I am taking steps to give effect to it.