§ 26. Mr. EYRES-MONSELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that the spirit of the Order exempting casual fruit pickers, etc., from the scope of the Insurance Act is not being complied with, and that casual workers employed on onion and radish tying, and other similar occupations not scheduled in the above-mentioned Order, are now being informed that they must be insured?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe Order to which the hon. and gallant Member refers applies only to the employments scheduled in it. The Commissioners decided after full consideration that employment as an onion or radish tyer cannot be regarded as subsidiary, but is merely one of a series of seasonal field employments. Persons so employed are required to be insured.
§ Mr. EYRES-MONSELLIs not the money contribution in these cases entirely wasted?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI shall be glad to hear anything the hon. Gentleman may have to say on that point either publicly or privately. But we have a good number of these people insured. They first wanted to be included in the subsidiary employments.
§ Mr. KINGDoes the right hon. Gentleman accept the statement that these contributions are entirely lost, seeing that the money goes into the Treasury?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe money is applied for the benefit of the persons in respect of whom it is paid.
Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSHas the right hon. Gentleman discovered what benefits are available for these people?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIt depends largely on the amount which we estimated will be necessary to secure the reserve value.