§ MR. TREVELYANTo ask the First Commissioner of Works whether any alterations have been made in the conditions inserted in notices and contracts by the Board of Works since the Return given in Parliamentary Paper, No. 277, of Session 1896, page 123, Appendix No. 1; and, if so, what the alterations are.
§ (Answered by Mr. Harcourt.) With a view to ensuring still further that the workmen employed by the contractors of this Department shall receive the accepted wages in their respective trades, the following clause has been drawn up and included, in all the building and engineering contracts of the Office of Works:— The wages paid by the contractor to workmen employed by him on the execution of works shall be those generally accepted in each trade for competent workmen in the district where they are employed, and the contractor's wages books and time sheets for; all workmen, so far as they relate to this contract, shall be open to the inspection of the Commissioners of Works, or their representatives, at such times as they may think fit. With regard to manufactured goods, such as furniture, the following clauses, designed with the same purpose, are included, as far as possible, 456 in the Board's contracts: Wages.—The wages paid in the execution of this contract shall be those generally accepted as current in each trade for competent workmen in the district where the work is carried out. Work in Factory. —The contractors shall undertake that all articles included in this contract shall be made in their own factory or workshop at— Inspection of Work, Wages Books, etc.— The contractors' factories and workshops and the goods in process of manufacture. and also the contractors' wages books and time sheets shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by the controller of supplies or his representative. In addition the Board have provided in their contracts for specific building works, that—The builder shall pay the workmen employed on the work at the building or on the site and not elsewhere. Though not mentioned in the Return of 1896, this is a provision of more than twenty years standing.