§ 12. Sir Robert Taskerasked the Minis ter of Labour whether he is aware that a man summoned at Northampton for not paying a debt of £4 was earning an aver age of £21 4s. 11d. per week; that another man summoned for not paying a judgment summons of 4s. 6d. per week was stated, in evidence, to be re ceiving an average of £12 17s. 10d. per week, and to have earned £20 per week; and as both were employées of Messrs. Stewart and Lloyds, will he take action to prevent this excessive payment of wages?
§ Mr. BevinI am not aware of either the hours worked or output produced by these men, but I presume that they were working according to the terms and conditions of a collective agreement. If the question of the respective incomes of different citizens in the country is to be taken into account, it cannot be limited to workmen.
§ Sir R. TaskerIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that highly skilled engineers are receiving less than one-quarter of the wages set out on the Paper? Can he take no action to prevent opportunist exploitation of the nation's needs? Would it not be better to compel exploiters to observe the same patriotism as that exhibited by the highly skilled engineers?
§ Mr. BevinI do not accept the word "exploitation." The wages that are being paid are fixed by collective agreement. The only abnormal conditions which did arise, and which upset the wage arrangements of the country, were where one employer against another sought to poach labour in the early days of the war, and they really blacklegged their own side.