CLAUSE 2—(Information as to Insurance to be given to Workmen). (Hansard, 13 April 1934)

§ Mr. G. NICHOLSON

I beg to move, in page 3, line 4, to leave out from "workmen," to the end of the Subsection, and to insert (a) in the case of a contract of insurance, a certificate in the prescribed form, signed by the insurer, being a certificate which—

(i) states that, to the extent required by the foregoing section, the owner of the coal mine is insured under the contract against his liability under the principal Act to workmen in respect of their employment for the purposes of that mine in the course of such period current at that time as may be specified in the certificate; and
(ii) where the insurer is a mutual indemnity association, specifies the date on which the association was formed and, if it was formed after the end of the year nineteen hundred and thirty-three, states that the association has deposited the sum of twenty thousand pounds with the accountant-general of the Supreme Court in pursuance of this Act; or

(b) in the case of a compensation trust—

(i) a notice in the prescribed form, signed by the owner of the coal mine, stating that the trust conforms with the requirements of the Schedule to this Act and provides for securing by means of a special trust fund the discharge of all the owner's liability under the principal Act to workmen in respect of their employment by him for the purposes of the mine in the course of such period current at that time as may be specified in the notice; and
(ii) where the workmen are employed at any time after the end of the first three months of any accounting year as defined in the Schedule to this Act, a declaration in the prescribed form signed by the owner stating that he has received the actuary's certificate required by the compensation trust in accordance with the Schedule to this Act to be given with 653 regard to the owner's liability for that accounting year, and either that no contribution to the trust fund is payable under the trust by virtue of the said certificate or that the contribution so payable in accordance with the requirements of the Schedule to this Act has been duly paid by the owner."

This rather long Amendment particularises the notice which the coalowner must give to his workman, both in the case where he is covered by insurance and in the case where he has a compensation trust. The substance of Sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (a) is already contained in the Bill. Sub-paragraph (ii) is in a sense consequential on the Amendment to Clause 1, page 2, line 31, which requires deposits to be made by new mutual indemnity associations. The new paragraph (b) (i) requires the owner to warrant that the trust conforms to the Schedule to the Bill, and that he has discharged his obligations for the time being under the trust. Sub-paragraph (ii) is designed to ensure that the workman shall know whether or not the assets of the fund are sufficient to cover the outstanding and contingent liabilities as certified by the actuary in accordance with the trust. It will be seen that the trust is to be in funds sufficient to cover the estimated liabilities of the current accounting year, that is, up to a year ahead.

§ Mr. G. NICHOLSON

I beg to move, in page 3, line 23, at the end, to add: (3) In this section—

(a) the expression 'colliery office' means, in relation to any coal mine, the premises at which the workmen employed at that mine, usually receive payment of their wages; and
(b) the expression 'prescribed' means prescribed by the Secretary of State."

This Amendment provides the necessary definition for the purposes of the Clause. I think the expression "colliery office" is a new definition in an Act of Parliament. It is intended to define the sort of place where the workman goes regularly, and where he will have an opportunity of seeing the requisite notices. We thought that the place where the workman usually receives payment of his 654 wages was the most suitable place for that purpose.