§ MR. J. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)To ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether he can state the comparative wages paid in Lancashire and in Belfast to male operatives and to female operatives in spinning factories; and whether he can give any statistics as to the wages paid in Belfast in other industries compared with wages paid in the same industries in cities in England.
§ (Answered by Mr. Kearley.) Spinners in the cotton trade in Lancashire are mostly men, while in the linen trade in Belfast they are mostly women. The latest available official statistics giving information as to the earnings in these two trades, in which the system of piecework prevails, is contained in the Report on Wages in the Textile Trades (Cd. 5807 of 1889). A general inquiry by the Board of Trade into earnings is nowin progress which will give information on this subject. As regards trades in which piece wages are not the prevalent system of payment, reference may be made to the recently issued Report on Standard Time Rates of Wages at October, 1906 [Cd. 3245].