§ 78. Mr. BRIDGEMANasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if representations have been made to him suggesting that engine drivers and firemen should be put under the Workmen's Compensation Act for failure of eyesight and other bodily injuries arising out of their employment; and if he proposes to take any action in the matter?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. McKenna)Representations were recently made to me by a deputation from the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen in regard to the position of those of their members who lose their work through failure to pass the periodic eye tests required by the railway companies, but they expressly stated that their request was not that the failure of eyesight should be treated as an industrial disease under the Compensation Act, but that any diminution of wages caused by the loss of their present work should be made good by the State. That is not a matter in which I have any power to take action. As regards the application of the Compensation Act, there is no evidence before me of any -disease specific to this class of employment which could be scheduled under the Act; injuries by accident are, of course, already under the Act.