§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary of State for War if he can state the date on which the pension scheme for foremen and assistant foremen of the Army Ordnance Department (Ireland) will be promulgated; and if he can state whether the wages of the bedmakers at Island Bridge will be brought up to the trade union rate as from 1st April, 1908.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) A scheme for the grant of pension rights to principal foremen and to 85 per cent. of the foremen has been approved and will shortly be promulgated. There is no proposal to grant pension rights to assistant foremen. As regards bed-makers the wages paid were increased by 2s. a week in April last year, and would appear from inquiries made to compare favourably with those current in the district.