25. Mr. BECKETTasked the Secretary of Mines how many miners in the Durham and Northumberland coalfields are receiving less wages than the minimum wage agreed upon by the minimum wage board of those counties?
§ Commodore KINGNo cases have been reported to me in which rates of wages in Northumberland and Durham have fallen below the statutory minima.
Mr. BECKETTWill the hon. and gallant Gentleman read the report of the Prince of Wales, from which he will find that it is so?
§ Commodore KINGI know of no report by His Royal Highness at all.
Mr. BECKETTDid not the hon. and gallant Gentleman take the trouble to read the reports which His Royal Highness gave to the Press every day?
§ Commodore KINGI read the newspaper reports.
§ Mr. T. WILLIAMSHas it not been brought to the notice of the hon. and gallant Gentleman previously by the Miners' Federation that in almost every county in the country miners are not asking for the minimum wage for fear of being dismissed?
§ Commodore KINGNo, Sir. I have stated perfectly clearly in my answer that no case has been reported to me in which the wage has fallen below the statutory minima.
§ Mr. WILLIAMSIs it not a fact that the Miners' Federation, at the last deputation that the hon. and gallant Gentleman received, informed him that the Minimum Wage Act was being ignored all over the country?
§ Commodore KINGI would point out to the lion. Member that, as he is no doubt aware, the statutory minimum refers to the Act of 1912, and that at the present time there is a subsistence wage, which is higher than that, and which is a contract as between masters and men.
Mr. BECKETTIf the hon. and gallant Gentleman has read the newspaper reports of the Prince of Wales's visit, how can he say—