§ 44. Mr. R. McNEILLasked the First Lord of the Admiralty why the time-workers of the Director of the Works Department at Deal are excluded from the benefit of the 12½ per cent. increase in wages, although the increase has been given to the time-workers in the same department at Dover, of which Deal is a sub-station, and the work and conditions are identical at the two places; if he is aware that the exclusion of Deal from the benefit of the increase cannot be based on the pretext that Deal is a naval barracks or establishment, inasmuch as the Deal sub-station, in addition to the maintenance of the barracks, is charged with the upkeep of a large Coastguard district stretching from Eastbourne to Sheerness, as well as with the execution of numerous works at Royal naval air stations and wireless stations; and whether, in view of the anomaly of workmen in neighbouring towns receiving different rates of wages for identical work, he will take steps to have the 12½ per cent. increase extended to Deal?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThe time-workers in the Director of Works Department at Deal were excluded from the original award of the 12½ per cent. increase as they were not covered by the Order, which applied to industrial establishments only. By the award of the Committee on Production, dated 21st February, the 12½ per cent. increase is extended to 2131 men employed by the Government on the construction of buildings, to date from the first pay-week which followed 1st January, 1918, and the case of Deal will be dealt with shortly.