§ 11. Mr. FELLasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that the pay of a leading seaman when afloat is 3s. 3d. a day whilst a coastguard of the same rating only receives 3s. 2d. a day, and has to find his own food out of his 3s. 2d. whilst the seaman afloat has his food free; and if he will consider the advisability of raising the pay of the coastguards, which was fixed about forty years ago and has not been raised since then notwithstanding the increase in the cost of provisions and living generally?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe pay of a leading seaman afloat at the new rates is 2s. 2d. to 2s. 4d., and the cost of his ration 10d., a total cost of 3s. to 3s. 2d. The pay of a leading boatman in the coastguard is 1s. 9d. a day, in addition to provision allowance of 1s. 4d., a total of 3s. 1d. Leading seamen can earn, in addition, from 3d. to 11d., or in a few cases 1s. 7d., for specialist gunnery duties, which do not fall on the coastguard. All leading boatmen (coastguard) receive 1d. a day for gunnery duties, and in many cases can earn from 2d. to 5d. a day for specialist signalling and wireless telegraphy duties. The coastguard are provided with quarters on shore for their families, whereas a married man in the Service afloat has to pay house rent. Both the seaman afloat and the coastguard receive good conduct pay up to a maximum of 3d. a day. As previously stated by my right hon. Friend the First Lord, it is not proposed to increase the pay of the coastguard.
§ Mr. FELLIs it not a fact that the pay of coastguards was fixed about forty years ago, and that since then there has been 1166 no increase, whereas the price of food has greatly gone up?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAI cannot say, but if a seaman afloat gets more than a coastguard he does special duties which the coastguard does not do. The coastguard, too, has a house and garden.