§ MR. WATT (Glasgow, College)I beg to ask the Secretary of State 489 for the Home Department whether his Departmental Committee on Check-weighing in the Iron and Steel Trades contains a representative of the finished trades; and, if not, will he appoint such, in view of the fact that the necessity for compulsory weighing or measuring applies more particularly to the finished iron and steel trades, than even to the pig iron or smelting trades.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThe Committee does represent the employers and men engaged in a part of what I understand my hon. friend to mean by the finished iron and steel trades, and as I informed him on 8th May I prefer not to add to their numbers. The present Committee may, I think, be left to deal with such of the finished trades as come within their own experience, and the question can then be considered whether the Committee should be reconstituted with different representatives of the masters and men for the purpose of dealing with others.
§ MR. J. WARD (Stoke-on-Trent)Will the terms of reference entitle the Committee to inquire into the case of other trades where piecework obtains? For instance, quarrymen and navvies are nearly always employed by piece.
§ MR. GLADSTONEAs it is a Departmental Committee I can add to or alter the terms of reference in any manner I may consider desirable. It is my intention that the inquiry shall cover the cases referred to by the hon. Member.