§ Mr. LEES SMITHI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade a question of which I have given private notice, namely: Whether under Part II. of the National Insurance Act, in which the contributions of employer and of workmen are fixed at 2½d. each per week, the employer having affixed a stamp for 5d. must, in order to obtain the workman's contribution from the latter's wages, deduct 2½d. in that week, or whether he may deduct 2d. in that week and 3d. in the following week when he affixes the next stamp for 5d.?
Mr. ROBERTSONAn employer who in two successive weeks affixes two 5d. stamps, representing the joint contribution of himself and the workman for those two weeks, may deduct 2d. from the workman's wages in the first week and 3d. in the second week. He may not deduct 3d. in the first week and 2d. in the second week from the workman's wages, because the amount which he may deduct at any moment cannot exceed one-half the amount of all the stamps affixed by him up to that date.