§ MR. GEORGE ROBERTS (Norwich)I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether the firm of Messrs. Vickers, Sons, and Maxim, Limited, of Barrow-in-Furness, is on the list of Government contractors; if so, whether he is aware that the firm have a clause in the indentures of their apprentices prohibiting their apprentices joining a trade society during the apprenticeship term; and whether the Government will make representations to the firm with a view to the withdrawal of the prohibition.
§ MR. ASQUITHThe firm are on the list of contractors to the War Office. I am not aware of the existence of the clause in the indentures referred to; and the matter is not one in which I should feel entitled to intervene.