§ 7. Mr. MIDDLEMOREasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the average pay of the petty officers and men of the stoker branch in 1909–10 was £41 5s. 3d. per head, and that the average for 1913–14 is £41 15s. 7d. per head; and whether this average increase of less than 2½d. a week represents the full amount of the concession made to the stoker branch under the increases of pay announced in December last?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe figures quoted in the first part of the question are deduced from the numbers and money provision in Vote 1 of the Estimates, but they do not represent the extent of the recent increase of pay to the stoker class. The small apparent increase in the average rate of pay for this class in 1913–14 as compared with 1909–10 is partly due to the fact that the number in the former year is the maximum and in the latter the average. Had the average number been taken for 1913–14 the increase in the weekly rate would have appeared as 8¾d. It is, however, chiefly due to the fact that some 6,500 stokers have been, or will have been, entered on the initial rate of pay for their class since 1909–10. As the hon. Member is aware from the table set out in Command Paper, No. 6118, the increased rate of pay for stokers does not take effect till the completion of six years' service. A large number of men who will ultimately be qualified are thus at present outside the radius. Taking the number of stoker ratings who received an immediate benefit from the improved rates of pay as between 17,000 and 18,000, the average is, of course, much in excess of what has been stated.