§ 28. Viscount WOLMERasked whether the Earlestown Industrial Co-operative Society has yet received the exemption order, under Section 47 of the National Insurance Act, for which they applied four months ago; if so, whether the employés of the society have been notified of the fact; and whether the Government have yet returned to them the unnecessary contributions which they have been obliged to pay every week owing to the delay, and for which they have received no corresponding benefits.
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe special order referred to came into force on 21st December, and the Commissioners assume that the society to whom intimation was sent on that day has informed its employés of the fact. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative. No application for a repayment has been made to the Commissioners on behalf of the society or its employés, and any repayment of contributions, even where it was legally possible under the Act, could only be made after application from the persons concerned and careful consideration of the merits of the particular case.
§ Viscount WOLMERWas that a general order?
§ Mr. MASTERMANNo; I think it was a special order dealing with that particular society.