§ 19. Mr. HORE-BELISHAasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he is aware that the maximum pay for tug-masters serving in His Majesty's tugs is £4 18s. a week with unlimited hours, whereas the maximum pay for tugmasters of the Liverpool Towing Company and the Alexandra Towing Company is £8 10s. a week with normal hours, and for tugmasters of the Southern Railway Company's vessels £6 18s. a week of 48 hours; and whether he will consider giving the same rates of pay to masters serving in His Majesty's tugs as those enjoyed by these employés of private firms?
§ Mr. AMMONThe maximum pay of masters of His Majesty's dockyard tugs is £4 18s. 7d. a week. Allowances are payable in addition in certain circumstances. The rate of pay is that awarded in arbitration by the Industrial Court on 4th July, 1928. The various considerations affecting the pay of this class of employés were brought out by the parties at the hearing by the Industrial Court in the arbitration proceedings, and it is not proposed to depart from the finding of the court.
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHADoes the Parliamentary Secretary think that those in the employ of the State should be treated worse than those employed by private individuals?
§ Mr. AMMONThe conditions are not analogous, and I think that we must stick to the well-defined trade union principle of the acceptance of the findings of the Industrial Court by both parties.