§ Mr. W. THORNEasked if the right hon. Gentleman will state how the Central Trade Board for the tailoring trade is composed; how many employers who are Government contractors doing military and uniform work are upon it, and how many representatives of the workers engaged in the same work are members of the Board; and if he will state whether the prices fixed by the Board will be regarded as the minimum in the administration of the Fair-Wages Clause?
Mr. BUXTONThe Trade Board for the ready-made and wholesale bespoke tailoring trade of Great Britain contains thirteen members representing employers, thirteen representing workers, and five appointed members. The number of the employers who hold Government contracts varies, of course, from time to time, but I understand that several of the members on both sides of the Board represent wholly or partly the interests of employers and workers engaged in Government contract work. Under Section 7 of the Trade Boards Act, the minimum rates of wages fixed by the Trade Board will, so far as they are applicable, be obligatory on Government contractors as soon as they are fixed. Nothing, however, in the Trade Boards Act dispenses with the obligation on Government contractors to pay the full current rates of wages under the Fair-Wages Clauses of their contracts.