§ 80. Mr. CHARLES DUNCANasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his Department have any contract with the Hoffman Manufacturing Company, Limited, Chelmsford; and, if so, whether he will make inquiries into the wages and conditions of labour, in order to ascertain whether this firm are observing the Fair-Wages Clause in their contract?
Mr. LAMBERTThe only Admiralty order that can he traced with this firm is one for a small supply of steel balls costing a few shillings. I do not think that on the strength of this small order the Admiralty would be justified in instituting a general inquiry into the whole of the labour conditions at these large works, where a strike involving a large number of men is understood to be in progress.