§ Mr. WILLIAM ABRAHAMasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he was aware that the Great Northern Railway 2700 Company of Ireland had a sick and mortality fund for their employés to which all men entering the service were compelled to contribute; that, as a consequence of the recent strike, the company had locked out sixty of the men employed at the Dublin terminus and refused to reinstate them on any terms; and that many of these men had thirty years' service and during all those years had contributed to the sick and mortality fund, and were now too old to join any friendly society; and whether, under these circumstances, he would devise a scheme under which the men could continue to pay their subscriptions to and receive benefits from the fund, or, as an alternative, whether the company could be obliged to refund the contributions of the men, less what amount might have been drawn in sick benefits?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. McKinnon Wood)I must refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for West Belfast on the 30th November.