§ 26. Mr. SPENCERasked the Minister of Labour whether Matthew Hardy, George Knight, George Wheeldon, and Mark Williamson, each having six children, and Frederick Barkly, having three children, and Samuel Arche, single, have had their out-of-work donation stopped for refusing to accept work, offered by the Hucknall Urban District Council, Notts, at rates less than the recognised trade union rates; whether Mr. Parker Woodward, chairman of the Court of Referees, is also clerk to the said council; whether he will take steps to secure that a person shall not adjudicate upon cases he is interested in; if he will say whether it is a condition of the out-of-work donation that persons should accept work irrespective of the standard rate of wages offered; and whether he will institute inquiries and, if satisfactory, advise the payment of the donation?
§ The MINISTER of LABOUR (Sir Robert Horne)The workmen in question were general labourers, who were offered labouring work under the Hucknall Urban District Council. I am informed that the rate of wages for the work was the recognised standard rate for the Hucknall district, and that this was confirmed by the workmen's representative on the Court of Referees which dealt with the cases, who is the secretary of the Nottingham and District Builders Labourers' Union. I am, however, having further inquiry made into this point. Owing to the illness of the regular chairman of the local Court of 2013 Referees his place was taken on this occasion by one of his deputies, Mr. Parker Woodward, who is clerk to the district council. I am satisfied that the impartial hearing of the cases was in no way prejudiced by this fact, and I may add that in each of the cases the three members of the Court were unanimous in their decision.