§ 85 and 86. Sir J. D. REESasked (1) whether the average earnings of a middle-woman in the Nottingham lace trade are 10s. a week, out of which, under the National Insurance Act, she has to pay 15 or 20 per cent, to insure her workers, many of whom, being for the most part married women, are better off than herself, so that unless she infringes the Trade Board Act by recouping the compulsory contribution or tax from the worker she cannot continue her trade;, and whether the Government will consider the propriety of allowing such middlewomen to contract out of the Act; and (2) whether the officer conducting the inquiry at Nottingham into the working of the National Insurance Act in respect of outworkers in the lace trade received a petition from 2,577 women, of whom 90 per cent, are married, praying to be excluded from the benefits of the Act, as they were unable to pay the tax exacted from their small earnings; whether the Commissioners are considering a scheme for 457 giving workers a chance of participating in lesser benefits; whether this term is properly applicable to what is most appreciated in proportion as it is most sparingly granted; and whether, in consideration of the poverty of these workers and the hardships they have already suffered, the Government will consider the propriety of allowing them to contract out of the Act?
§ Mr. MASTERMANMr. Pope, who is conducting the inquiry referred to, and who, I may point out, is not an officer of the Commission, but an impartial person appointed under the provisions of the Ninth Schedule to the National Insurance Act, is still pursuing his investigations, and until the report is received I am not in a position to make any statement as to any further action the Commissioners may take under the powers granted to them by the Act. Mr. Pope has recently visited Nottingham, and I am informed that he was given an opportunity of inspecting some specimen sheets of a general petition in connection with the Act, but that no special petition from the outworkers of Nottingham was presented to him.
§ Sir J. D. REESIs the right hon. Gentleman following Mr. Pope's inquiry, and, if so, has he any doubts as to the great distress which these compulsory collections are occasioning, and when Joes he expect Mr. Pope's report?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI fear I have not been following the details of Mr. Pope's inquiry, but we shall receive a report of the evidence and shall give full weight to the evidence.
§ Sir J. D. REESIt is urgent.
§ Mr. MASTERMANMr. Pope is treating it as urgent, and I am anxious to see the question dealt with at the earliest possible opportunity.