HC Deb 17 July 1916 vol 84 cc669-70
62. Mr. CROOKS

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware of the arrangement come to whereby the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act apply in cases of death or injury to railwaymen as the result of enemy raids or bombardments; and whether the Government have or will consider the advisability of the provisions of the Act being applied to all workmen who suffer death or injury from the same cause during the course of their employment?

The UNDER-SECRETARY Of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Brace)

I am informed that the railway companies have decided that men injured on duty during air raids or bombardments should be compensated on the same basis as under the Workmen's Compensation Act. In ordinary cases, however, where the workman is not exposed by reason of his employment to any greater danger from an air raid or a bombardment than the inhabitants generally, and the accident is not in any sense due to the nature of his employment, it would not, I think, be possible to place a liability in respect of any injury which the workman may suffer on the employer.